Heir Of Doom

by Jina S Bazzar

  Nothing.

  Nothing moved ahead, nothing scurried inside. No wings of nocturnal birds fluttered, no lungs, small or big, moved inside. There was nothing there, as far as my senses could tell.

  Relief, so acute it ached, spread through me. Unwilling to step inside any of the three tunnels, I made my way back, afraid the one minute was almost up.

  If there was a small part of me telling me to make sure, I suppressed it by telling myself Diggy had warned me not to go far, not to linger. I hurried so Diggy wouldn't worry and break the ward for no reason. Forty, maybe fifty seconds had passed. I was making a lot of noise, my breathing coming fast. But there was nothing hiding in the darkness.

  Nothing that I could sense, anyway.

  I made the way back quicker than when I'd entered, eager to get the Hell out. Stones and pebbles crunched under my boots, sounding like thunder to my ears.

  Maybe it was an old, forgotten ward. From a time when this land still carried life. Maybe someone had once dwelled deep inside one of the three caves, warding the entrance against whatever predators lived in these lands. Maybe its remains were still here, deep in the bowels of the cave, untouched by the wilderness that had existed out there. Maybe that was why the ward still stood, because no one knew to break it. Because there was no one to break it. Maybe, like Diggy, someone had crossed here before, sensed the ward, and hastened away, afraid to be caught or burned to ashes.

  I flexed my hand where Remo's ward had once burned it to charcoal and brushed aside a cobweb from my face, understanding why Diggy wouldn't risk the ward without reason…

  I froze mid-step.

  What was that?

  Spiders?

  I moved the light across the ground, searching.

  Breath held, I cast my senses outward, listened hard. Where was it?

  I aimed the penlight upward, tracing the ceiling rock for small, long-legged insects, trying to catch a darker shadow against the rock. But there was nothing there. Doing a 180, I looked around and listened – surveying the dark.

  How did cobwebs get here if there were no spiders?

  Not my concern, I told myself, shaking my head. I'd just flag that fact and tell Diggy. I frowned. Something about red flags. narrowing my eyes, I tried to reach that vague thought, that something that tried to cross over to the forefront, but it skidded and evaded, and with another shake of my head, I let it go. Turning back to where the entrance should be, I left my senses open and continued forward.

  Had I moved this far into the cave? Diggy must be getting ready to break the ward. Maybe I should hurry up and jog.

  There! I froze, right foot in mid-air, penlight arcing left and right.

  What was that sound? Where did it come from? I listened, but only silence answered back.

  Shaking my head, I moved forward again. Just projecting, I told myself, glad now Diggy hadn't given me a clue what to search for.

  Still, my heart drummed a fast rhythm, my breathing faster still. I needed a break.

  I promised myself I'd let Vicky drag me on one of her shopping sprees. Maybe we'd even go for dinner and a movie; let her invite that friend of a friend. I'd call her the moment I got home. I frowned, wondering how much time had already passed earth-side. Ah well, Vicky would understand. She'd gotten a kick out of the fact that I trained four to five hours every day, only to be gone less than fifteen minutes standard time. She'd be delighted to know I was away for a few hours, only to realize I'd been gone for a couple days standard time.

  She'd go all OhmyGod excited, wanting to here all about it.

  And where the hell was that cave entrance? She'd laugh at how silly I had been, at my terror…

  Whirling at a sound behind me, I flashed the light everywhere. The ceiling, the ground, the rock wall beside me.

  I had heard it. I wasn't projecting it. I was sure about that. Someone was in there. Something was in there.

  Diggy, come on, now's the time to break the ward.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  I didn't know how long I stood there, barely breathing, waiting, before I heard it again.

  The cry of a child, quickly cut off as if someone had covered its mouth with a hand.

  Goosebumps erupted all over my body.

  A child. There was a child in there!

  Forgetting Diggy's warnings, knowing he'd be behind me soon, I moved back down, my steps as quiet as I could make them. When I reached the entrances of the three tunnels, I paused, listening. What if the sound didn't come again? Did I dare wait for Diggy? He was the better tracker, the Hunter.

  The sound did come again, fainter, farther in. From the center tunnel. I hesitated, glancing back at the wall of darkness. If I waited for a while longer, Diggy would come. He'd track me via the bracelet; follow me to wherever I was. But if I waited, I might lose the child. Already the sound was growing fainter, farther.

  I slipped in, not giving myself time to consider any further, aware there would be danger facing me. If someone was taking the child deeper inside, away from me, it was because that someone knew I was there. Yes, I was aware, though I didn't let myself debate my actions. Or the consequences of following an unknown into the unknown. My next step faltered, but when I heard the cry again, nearer this time, I hurried. If I was afraid of whatever hid in the absolute dark, how could a child not be?

  I stumbled out of the small cave into a big open area. Or was I back outside? Maybe the cave was just a passage to another side of the land.

  I beamed the small light around, at the ground, at the walls of the cave I'd emerged from.

  Where to now? Where are you?

  I silently begged the child to keep struggling, not to give up. Would it answer me if I called her? Or was it a boy? Or would whoever had brought the kid here answer instead?

  Maybe it didn't know I was here. Maybe it hadn't heard me yet. Maybe it was deaf.

  There was nothing ahead but that vast darkness. Afraid to get lost, I followed the wall to the right, switching the penlight to that side so I could keep my left hand ready for attack. The wall stretched as far as the thin stream of light reached, making me wonder if I was inside an enormous cavern, so huge my light could find no end to it, no ceiling above.

  There was complete silence. The only sounds I heard were my shallow breathing and the thunderous beating of my heart. Shining the light through a cavity in the wall, I looked inside. It was about ten feet deep, though the width was small, no more than three feet wide.

  Inside laid a bunch of brown, jagged sticks, a few smooth rocks roughly the size of a closed fist. Sending the light far ahead, I noticed that dozens of similar niches pockmarked the surface of the rock wall. I moved ahead and shone the light inside each, but found no child. Some of the niches were too high for me to see inside, and I reasoned that if I couldn't reach them, neither could a child. Some weren't even big enough to accommodate one, though every hole contained twigs. It was as if someone had been hording the wood from outside, anticipating a long stay.

  I reached inside a shallow hole for a particularly sharp, jagged stick, and examined it, testing its toughness by beating it against my thigh. I brought it up, closer to the light, noticing the Small, tiny holes that dotted the surface, some bigger than others.

  Turning the jagged end upward, my heart began pounding like hooves inside my ribcage – fast and hard. It was hollow. A scream bubbled inside my chest and I dropped the stick, stepping back. It clattered to the ground, rolling a few inches away. The sound was so loud, I almost screamed in terror.

  Bones. Every niche was filled with bones.

  Tremors ran down my body, and I clamped it down. No, don't panic. Don't panic. The bones are old. They've been here for a long time.

  The child cried again, the sound creepy without the echo. It came from ahead, from inside the wall.

  Oh God, I thought, the child was the next meal for whatever monster lived here.

  Don't think about it, don't think about it. I raced to where I'd heard the cry co
me from, but must have passed it because the next cry came from behind. I whirled, backtracking, frantically shining the penlight at every small opening, every hole.

  Then the cry was right beside me, not in the hole, but on the other side. I turned, the light arcing with the motion, searching the darkness ahead. My breaths came in small pants as I moved the light left, right, left, right. Nothing. Nothing but a dark void ahead.

  “Where are you?” I whispered, my voice breathy but loud.

  As if in answer, the cry sounded, somewhere ahead and to the left.

  I hesitated, already disoriented. If I moved into the darkness, I might not be able to find the wall again.

  The cries of the child, however, urged me forward. There was such despair, such agony. Loud once, then abruptly cut off. A struggling child, not giving up hope.

  I stepped forward, away from the wall. And froze when cries sounded from multiple directions. I began backing up, literally feeling the blood draining from my face as I broke into a cold sweat. I hit the rock behind me, the uneven lip of a whole digging into my back and shoulders.

  Three cries, three long wails emanated from three different directions.

  My stomach heaved. I continued shining the light around, but there was nothing there. Reaching into a hole with my free hand, I searched among the bones, grabbing the longest one, never looking away from the darkness ahead.

  When the next cry sounded on the right, all I caught was the shadow of a small hunched figure scurrying away on all fours.

  Not a child at all. Not even human-like. Come on, Diggy, come and save the day. Tell me what a fool I am, come yell at me.

  Come on, Diggy, where are you?

  The cry came again, two sounds from opposite directions. No longer sounding like the cry of a child, but the sound of a triumphant predator ready to pounce on a cornered prey.

  I was wrong. I made a mistake. A colossal mistake. The long wails came again, the sound all wrong, too many to count. My heart stopped beating, but the tremor that shook my body more than made up for the lack of a pulse. A second, two seconds, and my heart kick-started, a fast, chaotic drum. The beats tripled, quadrupled.

  Time to hoof it, Roxanne. Now.

  Inching sideways along the wall, I cursed my stupidity. How long had I been gone? Surely long enough for Diggy to come looking?

  Feel my panic, damn you and your bracelet, Diggy. Come on, feel my panic.

  And where the hell was that entrance? Had I passed it already, thinking it was a niche or hole?

  Back or forward, I asked myself, fear clouding my ability to think clearly.

  God, help me.

  My hesitation cost me. Claws grabbed me on my right side, sinking deep beneath my right arm and shoulder. I dropped the light and a scream of pain and terror tore from my throat.

  The claws dug deep, through cloth and skin and into muscle, tearing with long, downward swipes.

  Survival mode took over and I jerked my hand and brought talons across my body, against something furry and hard. A shriek sounded near my ear, repeated a dozen, a hundred, a thousand times. The creature on my side jumped off and scurried away, its screeching cry of pain distinguishable from the others. I picked up the light and bone I had dropped and ran, searching for that damned entrance.

  Something cannon-balled on my back, and I went sprawling onto my face, my nose and lips smacking pebbled ground. Again, the light flew from my grasp, breaking with a sickening crash.

  Complete darkness fell. There was a silent pause as the creatures assessed the new situation.

  Then a creature jumped on my back and dug its claws deep into my flesh. I screamed in pain. As if it was a signal, the creatures echoed my cry, their claws clicking the ground, their approach a countdown for my heartbeats.

  Frizz!

  I reached for the creature on my back, realizing with horror that it was gnawing on my coat. I hooked my talons around its neck and flung the shrieking creature away.

  Slowly I stood, my back bleeding from multiple wounds, the smells of my blood and fear thick in the air. I sensed them now, the creatures surrounding me on all sides, closing in. I felt their hunger, their anticipation, their malevolence.

  Something brushed against my leg and I kicked at it. It cried, that horrible child-like shriek, the sound echoed by its companions.

  The cries disoriented me enough that when they attacked again, I was caught off guard. I went down on one knee, overwhelmed by their numbers.

  Frizz!

  With a roar of pain and a tremendous desire to survive I stood, shaking loose a few of the creatures. I fought with all I had, clawing, punching, kicking, and even biting when a furry limb came close to my face. Their blood was bitter, acidic.

  Claws dug in all over me, ripping my clothes, biting over them, through them. They were caught in a frenzied feeding and I was the succulent meal. Was this how Dr. Dean and Remo had felt when they were dyeing? This much pain, this much terror?

  How fitting I died the same death I'd dealt my enemies.

  I didn't notice when one of the creatures was pulled off me. Or the second or the third. I was in so much pain, I couldn't tell the difference. Except when there was nothing else clawing for my bones, reaching for my soul.

  “Diggy?” I croaked, but I already knew it wasn't him. Instead, Frizz's thin body pressed against mine, and I heard the ferocious beating of small wings.

  “Can't see,” I gasped. Slowly, things began appearing, as if dawn were approaching, though the sky remained a dark void above.

  Frizz crouched, his wings still, watching me with those dusky, shell-shaped eyes. Behind him, fanning out in a familiar semi-circle, squatted eleven other gargoyles, dripping with dark fluid. All around us, like a scene in a horror movie, pieces of the creatures that had attacked me lay scattered. A caved-in head of what looked like a cross between a monkey and a dog lay a few feet away, the place where its eyes should have been nothing but a shadowy patch of fur. The mouth, however, or crushed muzzle, was full of long razor-sharp teeth, covered with blood – my blood.

  “Don't suppose you know how to take me home?” I wheezed between shallow breaths.

  “No, Master,” Frizz replied, wings opening and closing in agitation.

  I could feel consciousness slipping, trying to drag me under.

  Knowing time was slipping away from me, I gave Frizz and followers one last command and tried to stay conscious.

  * * *

  Our progress through the cave was slow. Frizz and another shadow supported me on each side, practically carrying me as weakness crept on me, bowed my head and made my legs shake. The remaining shadows made sure the path was clear, ready to attack anything that came near me.

  Sooner than I'd expected, or maybe because I'd lost track of time, we were leaving the cave.

  Frizz stopped by the entrance the way I'd instructed him, and patiently waited for me to catch my breath and gather myself.

  We slid sideways out of the cave, and the shock in Diggy's eyes had some of the anxiety I felt escaping with a loud, gasping hiss.

  When he made to come near, Frizz growled in warning, the sound so foreign and so new to me, it took a second for me to understand he was protecting me, warning Diggy off. He'd picked up on my confusion, my sense of betrayal. No doubt, it was only the fact that Frizz had seen Diggy around my place more than once, smelled him on me every day, that kept him from attacking Diggy right away.

  I murmured to Frizz to relax and Diggy pounced, relieving the gargoyles of my weight, laying me down and kneeling by my head. The moment the rocky terrain touched my opened wounds, I blacked out.

  “What happened? Talk to me, damn you!” he repeated over and over, his hands moving up and down, not touching me anywhere, the sight of all that blood confusing him as to where to search first. “How bad is it? What attacked you?” he kept asking, but I didn't answer.

  Too much effort. My eyes fluttered open and closed, his face going from and coming into focus.

&nb
sp; “Shift, damn you,” Diggy snapped, and I realized he'd been telling me to do so for a while.

  Can't.

  But Diggy was no longer above me, but a pair of violet blue eyes. Then they also disappeared, and the sound of scuffling ensued.

  I stared at the dark sky above, wishing I could see the planets orbiting before I died. Because I knew I was going to die. I could feel it; my life essence leaking from me as something was killing me from within.

  Soon, violet eyes appeared above me again. Zantry Akinzo. What was he doing here?

  His eyes weren't glowing like Diggy's, on the contrary, they were dark, shadowed, guarded. Or maybe it was my vision dimming.

  He looked savage with that silky gloss of hair tumbling around his face, his shadowed strong jaw … those beautiful eyes. He was easily the most beautiful man I'd ever seen.

  A warm hand brushed my forehead, fiddled with my torn clothes, touched my bare stomach. Warmth permeated my cold skin, sipped into me.

  Diggy said something, but no one acknowledged him. I wanted to move my head, to look at him, but again, my head was too heavy and the effort was too much.

  “Shift,” Akinzo demanded with a deep voice, deeper than I remembered. A frisson of energy ran through me. I felt my hands shift, answering to the command.

  Diggy swore somewhere nearby.

  “Shift,” He repeated, and this time the command rang with power. There was that frisson of energy again, passing from his warm hand above my abdomen, coursing up into my chest, my neck, my head, down to my belly, my legs.

  “Shift. Now,”

  I watched his lips move, felt the energy course through me.

  “Shit, man.” Diggy stumbled behind him, but Akinzo didn't turn. “If she doesn't shift now…”

  Zantry's lips pursed as his eyes narrowed. That energy suddenly felt like a torrent. His eyes shifted to blue, glowing like Diggy's, and the smell of ozone filled the air.

  Soothing. The current moving through my body was soothing, dulling – if not numbing – some of the sharper edges of the agonizing pain. Like the hum of a mother to a child, a lulling music only I could hear.