by Chloe Jacobs
“Oh goody,” Greta mumbled, shoving her gloved hands in her armpits with a deep shiver. Why did the temperature always plummet when she was nowhere near a roaring fire? Just more proof that this place had it in for her. “Where are we going?”
She peered around the small wall toward the tiny path that led into the mountain.
Ray shook his head and pointed.
Up.
“We have to go there.”
“What?” Her mouth dropped open as she lifted her gaze up the rock wall in front of them. She could feel a tic starting to hammer away in her left eyelid. “Isn’t there another way in?”
“Sure. If you want to walk through the front door and be mobbed by everything Agramon’s got. Otherwise, we climb. About five hundred feet up there’s a small opening in the rock. I don’t think anybody knows about it—”
“How can you be sure?”
He shrugged. “Last time I was here it was easy enough to get in and out from up there.”
“And when was that?”
“About one moon cycle ago.”
Greta shook her head. “So what happens if they’ve found this second entrance since then and now it’s being monitored?”
“I guess we’re shit out of luck and we’ll probably get slaughtered.”
“Shouldn’t we have a plan B?”
“If you’ve got another option, I’m happy to hear it.”
Greta rubbed her temples and groaned. She looked up, noting the near alignment of the suns and moons. The full eclipse was close, so close. It might even happen within the hour now. If they made it up that cliff face and inside, they were headed into a war zone either way.
“Okay, so we’re climbing.” She had to laugh. If she didn’t, the entire situation would be too much to handle. “Get a move on. You’re going first.”
“Don’t worry.” Ray started forward, inching around the rock. “They’re just gnomes. Nasty looking bastards, but I’m sure you can handle them.”
She snorted, following close behind, eyeing the steeply sloping path upward. She didn’t bother to mention that besides dark, enclosed spaces, heights were her least favorite thing. He might figure it out soon enough though, because if he so much as breathed on her while he made her climb this thing, they were going to have serious problems.
She watched as he scaled ten feet of sheer rock face in less than ten seconds flat. He made it look easy, but she knew it was going to be hell.
“Oh, sure. It’s not that high up,” she muttered, brushing the snow off a tiny ledge before gripping it with her already frozen fingers. “And hey, just a couple of gnomes. No big deal.”
Finding a corresponding ledge for her boot, she lifted and then paused, already stumped as to where to reach or step next. She looked up. “How many of them are in there, again?”
Ray looked down. “You going to turn back?”
“Does it look like I’m turning back?” she shot up at him.
“It looks like you’re having trouble keeping up. There’s a spot about eight inches above your head. Grab that with your left hand and then bring your right boot straight up about two feet. There’s a narrow ridge that should work. Yeah, like that. Now keep your body flush with the rock and pull yourself up. That’s good.”
Even though she was probably only about seven feet off the ground, it was already impossible to look down. Instead, she glared up at the space between Ray’s shoulder blades and wondered whether her bones would shatter if she fell from this height. “Shouldn’t we have a rope or something, in case one of us—?”
A startled shout was torn from her as her leg was suddenly seized from below. Panic caused her stomach to heave and her throat to close. She held onto the tiny jutting protrusions in the cliff for all she was worth and looked down.
Right into Isaac’s twisted features. So full of anger, hunger, madness.
He’s alive!
Was she imagining that there was recognition in his face? That he hadn’t lost himself completely to the eclipse? Even as he growled up at her, she could still see his soul in those glowing eyes.
“Greta, hold on!” Snow dropped on her shoulders and into her face as Ray kept climbing.
Below her, Isaac stood with his long arm outstretched, claws penetrating the thin leather of her boot and digging painfully into her ankle—he’d just been able to reach her. If she had been less worried about falling, and quicker up the wall…
“Greta.” Nothing more than a growl, his voice made her heart lurch.
He pulled on her leg. Her knee buckled, but she recovered and scrabbled to hold on.
His nails went deeper. She screamed. The savagery in his eyes cut her, made her ache all over with fear and regret. She couldn’t bear to see him like this; reduced to a vessel for all of nature’s violence and rage.
She kicked, trying to make him let her go and catching him in the face with the heel of her boot. He only held on tighter.
“Isaac, don’t do this. Please,” she begged, pressing her cheek to the frozen rock. He yanked hard. Her grip slipped. She cried out and curled her fingers deeper into the outcropping of rock, but one more good pull and she’d tumble to the ground at his feet.
Something whistled over her head and an arrow lodged itself high in his chest—just above his heart. She screamed. “No! Isaac!”
His hold on her leg loosened before he let go with a chilling roar of fury and pain. She looked up to see Ray standing on the edge of a narrow shelf high above her. He’d already notched another arrow. Getting ready to fire again, he pointed the thing at Isaac’s heart. “Ray, stop,” she cried out. “Don’t shoot him.”
Reaching over her head, she grabbed another protrusion in the rock and pulled herself up the wall. Desperation gave her speed, but she wasn’t fast enough to reach Ray before he let another of his arrows off.
“Eat tail feathers, asshole.”
“Ray, no!”
She reached the ledge and hauled herself onto it. Jumping forward, she shoved his bow aside and stood in front of him.
“What are you doing?” he snapped.
Spinning around, she looked back down, but there was no Isaac. No dead goblin lying at the foot of the cliff, and no furious goblin surging up the rock after them.
“Oh, God. That can’t be good. Where did he go?” Looking out into the woods, she didn’t know what bothered her more—the idea of a moon-mad Isaac lurking in wait for them somewhere, or the image of that arrow lodged in his chest.
“Come on. We have to hurry.” Ray pulled on her arm. “The eclipse is full now.”
That wasn’t entirely accurate, but they didn’t have a lot of time before it would be true.
So focused on Isaac, she hadn’t even noticed that the sky was completely clear for once, as if the falling snow which rarely subsided for anything dared not encroach on this particular event. But it had turned dark now that the moons were almost completely lined up in front of the twin suns.
She let Ray take the lead as they squeezed through a small fissure in the side of the cliff and found themselves in a dank tunnel. Slowly, she drew her sword. “I want you to stay behind me now,” she whispered. Even that low-voiced sound carried in the dark tunnel and she looked back and forth, expecting to see Agramon’s goons charging toward them from all directions.
Now that Ray had gotten her here, he seemed to have no problem letting her take charge. “Left,” he whispered at her back. “About five hundred feet.”
She nodded and took a deep breath.
Although it was dark, there were random breaks in the cavern walls, letting in small amounts of light from some source on the other side. Greta realized this area must have been part of a larger chamber, but at some point the ceiling had collapsed and all that remained was this narrow passage.
Her next step landed on nothing but air. She stumbled and would have fallen if Ray hadn’t grabbed her arm and sharply hauled her back. “Sorry,” he whispered. “I forgot to mention there’s a bit of a drop.”
She glared back over her shoulder. “Yeah, that would have been good to know.”
He only shrugged.
She shook her head. “Where to now?”
“This is where things get a little tricky.”
“Wonderful. Because it’s all been a walk in the park up to this point.” She peered down. “A bit of a drop” was actually a pit of sheer nothingness that went at least a couple hundred feet straight down. She could see the bottom, but only because huge fires blazed from different spots on the ground.
Greta hated to think what was happening down there at this very moment.
“We have to step out there and scale the wall around to the other side. There’s a tunnel leading down to the cells.”
She’d had a bad feeling he was going to say something crazy like that.
“You look nervous,” he said. “Are you going to be able to do this?”
“I guess I don’t have much choice, do I?” Truthfully, she was stupid terrified. The thought of hanging by her fingers and toes above a chasm that would eat her whole and break every bone in her body if she fell was ten times scarier than what she’d felt climbing that wall outside, worse than the prospect of facing any number of the Lost.
She might as well go first. If the rock crumbled beneath her and she fell, at least Ray would feel guilty over her death for the rest of his life.
Inching to the edge, she peered around. There was a narrow but passable shelf running the length of the wall. Without thinking about what she was doing, Greta stepped out onto it and plastered her whole body to the hard surface, refusing to look down.
“Crap. Crap. Crap.” The going was slow, and she did it mostly with her eyes clamped shut.
Besides one heart-stopping moment when she lost her footing and scrambled to press her spine to the wall, she finally reached the other side and waited for Ray, trying to make her heart step back down to a halfway normal rhythm.
He joined her in considerably less time, and jumped down beside her with a grin. He wasn’t even breathing heavy, the jerk.
Without a word, they made their way through the next corridor, which angled steadily downward in a spiral, heading deeper and deeper into the heart of the mountain. At first, all she could hear was the sound of her own breathing and the soft crunch of their footfalls in the dirt, but soon enough Greta started to hear other things, things that chilled her blood.
Screaming, shouting, and the growls of creatures that could not possibly be human.
Each step brought them closer to that madness, compounding her anxiousness, and making her certain they would be too late to save anyone.
She held her hand up to signal Ray and crowded against the wall. He stopped close behind her, peering around her shoulder.
A few feet ahead of them, the corridor opened up, most likely to the large chamber they had rounded from above. Watching the chaos, it was obvious the eclipse was full and had left no creature unscathed. Fires burned high, but the temperature in there had little to do with the heat, and a lot to do with the gnomes, ogres, and other distorted beings Greta couldn’t identify, all trying to murder each other. “Let me guess. We have to go through there.”
“The cells are located on the other side,” Ray said, “but maybe they’ll all be so wrapped up in destroying each other, they won’t notice us.” An optimistic thought, but she doubted he believed it.
“All right. I want you to head out of here now.” Greta stripped off her long coat to streamline her form for fighting, and drew her sword.
Ray just crossed his arms over his chest and waited.
“Damn it.” She shook her head and sighed. “Then here’s the way it’s going to go. We run. You stay close, right behind me. Obviously, we’re not going to try and take them all on. Just barrel through anyone who gets too close and hope for the best.”
Ray nodded. His bow was ready, his old eyes reflecting acceptance—of his choices and their consequences, maybe of his approaching death. “I’m sorry I dragged you here with me.”
It was a gracious lie, but Greta didn’t fault him for it. She wanted to tell him they’d get through this. Instead, she gave him the truth. “You didn’t drag me, Ray. And don’t start writing us off just yet. I’m tired of getting spit on, beaten, and clawed up. I’m in the mood for some payback.”
Turning toward the mouth of the writhing chamber, Greta waited a moment until she saw their opening—a small break in the throng right along the side of the room. “Ready?”
She didn’t wait for his confirmation, but leapt forward at a dead run, trusting him to stick to the plan.
Maybe because their sudden presence was so unexpected, or maybe Ray had been right and Agramon’s minions were caught up in the turmoil of the eclipse and having too much fun pounding on one another, but they made it halfway across the chamber before the first ogre attacked.
And that’s where their luck ran out. He was a big one, and the look that came over his face when he spotted them made her feel like the Christmas turkey for a starving man—a turkey that still needed to be plucked.
Greta didn’t stop. Instead, she ran faster and ducked her head at the last minute, hitting the ogre with her shoulder, using as much momentum as possible. As it staggered backward, Ray lodged an arrow in its left eye.
Neither of them paused, just kept on moving—but their very slight advantage of surprise was gone. One after another, snarling heads stopped and turned. Bodies lunged toward them. Greta started hacking. There was no finesse in her defensive moves, it was all about survival.
She sliced the throat of a gnome before spinning in a circle to see another barreling down on Ray. “Behind you!”
“Greta!” He lifted his chin over her shoulder and raised his bow.
In a smooth move, they switched places and Greta met the goblin that had been coming for him, while Ray’s arrow found its target in the ogre that had been moments from crushing her skull between its huge clubs-for-hands.
“Crap.” Looking left and right, she realized she’d lost sight of the direction they’d been heading—not that it mattered when death was coming at them from all sides.
Suddenly, Ray went down, slugged in the face by a gnome with glowing, beady little eyes and a toothy, wide-mouthed grin. Before she could do anything to help, Greta’s braid was yanked viciously and her head snapped back.
Her sword clattered to the ground. Thick fingers closed around her throat, and she felt the creature’s hot breath on her cheek. From the size of the body at her back, she was being held by an ogre—an ogre about to take a bite out of her.
She kicked back, elbowed, and clawed at him—all the while watching helplessly as Ray was pummeled in the ribs and stomach.
Another gnome joined the fray, looking to get himself a piece of the human on the ground, and the two turned on each other, buying Greta a fraction of a second. But the ogre wasn’t letting up no matter what she tried, and the pressure on her throat was steadily choking the strength out of her. They weren’t going to make it.
Through the muffled thudding in her ears, she heard a commotion from across the chamber. Their attackers noticed it at the same time. Greta didn’t care what the hell was going on, she only knew it was a distraction she could make the most of and nailed the ogre hard in the shin. Her fingers scrabbled for the dagger at her waist. She pulled it and stabbed backward into the ogre’s thick thigh muscle. It finally let her go.
Spinning fast, she ignored its enraged cries, adjusting her grip and swinging the short blade in a high arc across the creature’s jugular.
Without waiting to see if he would fall over, she immediately went for her sword and then threw herself at the gnomes on top of Ray, slashing and hacking until she reached his side.
He was curled up into a tight ball, unmoving. Blood disguised the extent of the injuries to his face, but when she reached out her hand to check his pulse, he jerked and snarled at her. Good. At least he was still alive.
“It’s me, Ray. I’ve got you,” she
said. He settled down and tried cracking open his swollen eyes. “Come on,” she urged. “It’s just a little farther. We can make it, no problem.”
“Liar,” he croaked, but he pushed himself to his feet. She handed him her dagger, since his bow lay in three broken pieces across the dirt floor.
Greta pushed forward once again, slower this time so Ray could keep up. It forced her into direct combat with more of Agramon’s minions, but surprisingly, they weren’t overwhelmed. Whatever other disturbance had invaded this chamber, Greta was glad for it because it had divided the creatures’ attentions.
Then again, whatever it was, she and Ray were headed right for it.
“Greta!”
With a hard thrust, she finished off the gnome in front of her and turned to fight off the two coming up behind them.
Her strength was flagging. The gashes in her chest and thigh pulled, her throat was on fire, and her overworked muscles screamed as she parried and blocked, but there was still no relief in sight. For all the bodies littering the ground in their wake, it seemed as if Greta hadn’t even made a dent in the throng. They kept coming, so many of them she could see no way of leaving this room alive.
A gnome went for her face and she ducked in time, only to have her legs kicked out from under her. She went down hard, the breath whooshing out of her and her teeth coming together with a hard crack. Before she could bring up her hands in defense, the gnome was on top of her.
Ray shouted. It sounded so far away, and she felt a rush of panic that he was unprotected. It gave her a surge of adrenaline and she thrust her arms between her and the gnome before it tore out her throat. Two rows of jagged teeth snapped and snarled an inch from her face. Blood coated its lips and chin, and foam dripped from the corners of its mouth like a rabid dog.
Just when she was sure she couldn’t hold on any longer, the creature was lifted off her and thrown sideways like a bowling ball into the oncoming horde.
Greta forced the pain aside and jumped to her feet with sword in hand, looking wildly back and forth. Ray was at her side and she pulled him close, reeling around to find herself only inches away from a huge goblin.
