Chapter 17 — Nowhere to Run
The ledge shook again.
Small stones broke loose and vanished into the dark below. The thing above them shifted its weight, testing the rock like it was deciding where to bite first.
Lira scrambled to her feet. "Tell me you have a plan."
Kael looked left.
The ledge narrowed, curving along the cliff. Too thin to fight on. Too exposed to stand still.
He looked right.
A crack in the rock. Narrow, vertical. Not a doorway—more like a wound in the stone.
"That," he said.
The thing laughed. The sound scraped against the walls and came back wrong.
It dropped one hand and let itself hang, face level with them now. Its mouth opened wider than a mouth should.
"RUN," Lira shouted.
They ran.
Kael went first, shoulder scraping the wall as he squeezed into the crack. The stone was cold and wet, biting into his skin. Lira followed close behind, breathing hard.
The thing slammed into the ledge.
The impact rattled the crack, dust filling the air. One of its arms forced its way in, fingers digging, searching.
Kael shoved Lira deeper. "Don't stop."
The passage angled downward, tight and twisting. Every move burned. Every breath tasted like stone.
Behind them, the thing scraped and laughed, its voice echoing through the rock.
Then the crack widened.
They tumbled out onto flat ground, sliding across rough stone. Kael rolled and came up fast, blade ready.
The space around them was small. Enclosed. A cave—or something like one. Faint light leaked from thin lines in the walls.
Lira bent over, hands on her knees, gasping. "I really hate this place."
Kael nodded. "Yeah."
The scraping stopped.
For a moment, there was only their breathing.
Then a low sound rolled through the cave. Not from behind them.
From ahead.
The ground vibrated, slow and deep.
Lira straightened. "Please don't tell me there's another one."
Kael stared into the darkness ahead.
Something moved there. Big. Slow.
"No," he said quietly.
"Worse."
The light in the walls dimmed.
And whatever was waiting ahead began to wake up.