I watched, numb with cold and fear, my hands gripping the reins, as Laish stepped forward to meet the flowing horde. There must have been thousands of them—tens of thousands. The white snow was black with their bodies. Even as huge and imposing as Laish was in his dragon form, I was frightened for him.
If his change into a massive fire breathing monster bothered the Skitterlings, they didn’t show it. They rushed forward, flowing like a horrible, hairy, many-legged tide and I knew it was me they were aiming for—me they wanted to kill. And Laish was the only thing standing between me and being swarmed and eaten by the awful horde.
“Get back!” he roared in that deep, inhuman voice. “The human girl is mine!”
They paid no attention—still they came and now I could see their individual heads and faces. So many of them and such strange mixtures—bird-spiders, goat-spiders, bull-spiders, grizzly bear-spiders…I even saw one as big as a fishing boat that had the head of a great white shark. That one was looking straight at me with flat black eyes, its jagged teeth gnashing in eagerness to get to me.
The shark-spider was coming faster and faster but before I could open my mouth to scream, Laish opened his. A vast jet of liquid fire belched from his glowing throat. He sprayed it back and forth, covering as many of the Skitterlings with it as he could, like a fireman working a fire hose.
All around piercing, hissing shrieks went up. The spider creatures curled into flaming balls, writhing wildly in the snow, trying to put themselves out. But Laish’s fire was like napalm—it stuck to their hairy hides and refused to be extinguished.
But despite the swath of death and destruction he cut through their ranks, there were already more Skitterlings coming. Thick and fast they poured from the mouth of the Jealous Heart, scrambling over the bodies of their fallen comrades, eager to reach us—eager to reach me.
Laish breathed his liquid fire at them again and again. The air was filled with the sounds of dying screams and the stench of scorched flesh and still they came. They were a hundred yards away now…fifty…twenty…
“Go!” Laish roared at me, taking a moment between jets of flame. “Go now, Gwendolyn!”
“I don’t want to leave you!” I protested, though my heart was in my mouth. What could I possibly do against the awful Skitterlings? If given the right materials I might have whipped up a really good curse. But effective witchcraft takes time and that was what we didn’t have. Still, I didn’t want to leave Laish alone, especially when I was the cause of the awful trouble we found ourselves in.
Apparently he knew I wouldn’t change my mind.
“Kurex,” he shouted to the horse, whose ears pricked forward at once. “Take her—go!” He added some words in that harsh language that hurt my ears and then, before I could protest, Kurex was galloping again, taking me down the mountainside and into the flat, snow covered plains below that Laish had called the Drowning Pools.
“No! No!” I tugged hard on the reins but the big horse wasn’t listening to me at all. He neighed and surged forward, taking me away from the battle.
I turned my head, the freezing air whipping my hair into my face, and saw an awful sight—the Skitterlings had reached Laish and they were swarming him. Hundreds of them covered his head and scaly sides. He whipped his long neck and tail back and forth, shaking them off, trampling them beneath his clawed feet, and always breathing more and more fire but it did no good. No matter how many he killed there were always more coming…always more and more and more.
My last sight of him was of a writhing mass covered in the many-legged bodies. A great spout of flame emerged from the mass, shooting straight up into the dirty gray sky like a flag of surrender or defeat. And then Kurex galloped down over the crest of high hill and I could see no more.
Chapter Twenty-two
Gwendolyn
I cried and cried and the tears froze on my cheeks. We were far from the battle now and Kurex seemed to be picking his way carefully through the field of snow although he had galloped for as long as he could. I clung to his back, half frozen in the lightweight dress Laish had conjured me to wear in the scorching desert. Here in the frozen wastes of Stygia, the dress was almost useless. I was certain he had planned to give me something much more substantial to wear once we got here but he hadn’t had a chance—and now he might never get the chance. He might be dead—or what served for dead with demons, whatever that was.
No, stop—don’t think like that! I told myself but I couldn’t help it—my mind went on and on. Though I wished I could push the awful thoughts away they just kept coming. Could a demon of his status be killed? Laish had seemed to think so—he had told me that if the Skitterlings overcame him I should stay with Kurex. But could he really be gone? It didn’t seem possible. And yet—
“Please, Mistress…”The soft, pleading voice broke my train of thought and I looked down to see where it was coming from. “Pl-please,” begged the voice again.
The freezing wind, which seemed to be eternally blowing in this level of Hell, whipped the snow by Kurex’s front hooves aside and I saw the edge of what appeared to be a wide, deep pond. Leaning out of it, her lips blue, her teeth chattering, was a girl who looked to be about my age. It was impossible to say what color her hair was—it was dark with water—but her pale skin had a distinctly bluish tint to it too. Clearly she was freezing to death.
“Oh my!” I tugged on Kurex’s reins, pulling him up short though he snorted and stamped. “What happened to you?” I asked, scrambling off the horse. “Did you fall in?”
“No, they th-threw me in.” Her green eyes were wide and pitiful. “And I c-couldn’t get out.”
I pushed the leather satchel I wore crossed over my chest to one side and was just in the act of leaning over to offer her my hand when I remembered what Laish had told me—that Minauros had been made to punish rapists and Stygia to punish murderers.
“Wait a minute.” Though it went against every instinct I had not to grab the girl and drag her out at once, I hesitated. “Who threw you in? And why?” I demanded.
“Why…” She leaned further out of the pool—almost close enough to touch—and her green eyes seemed to gleam. “They did—the ones as punished me. The ones as wanted me to drown forever.”
“And what did they punish you for?” I asked, not liking that gleam in her eyes. I couldn’t help thinking of the pits filled with lost souls in Minauros, doomed to eternal agony and torment. Could this be the same kind of thing?
“Only just for strangling my little sister, Mistress.” The green eyes were glowing now. “But she was fucking my man—what else was I supposed to do?”
She lunged forward suddenly, flopping halfway out of the pool lightning quick like some huge, awful fish. Before I could step backwards, one ice cold hand had closed around my ankle.
“What are you doing? Let me go!” I grabbed on to Kurex’s stirrup and tried to pull away from the girl in the pool but her grip was horribly strong. Slowly but surely I felt my hold on the stirrup loosening.
“I don’t think so, Mistress.” The girl didn’t sound so pitiful anymore. Her teeth had stopped chattering and her eyes were glowing like two poison stars. “I think you’re going to join me.”
“No…no!” I gasped but the stirrup slipped from my hands and then I was sliding across the frozen ground, being dragged into the icy pool by the vengeful soul. “Let…me…go!” I snapped, kicking out at her with my free foot. She only laughed and dodged. Even when I did manage to connect, she simply shook off the force of my kick and kept dragging.
I twisted wildly when I felt the icy water touch my feet and then my ankles and calves. This was all happening so fast! It hadn’t even been a whole minute since I’d slipped off Kurex’s back to answer what I thought was a cry for help. Now I was about to be drowned for my foolishness.
Hadn’t Laish told me I should trust no one but him? And to keep to myself if we were ever separated? And what had I done? Ignored his orders yet again. I swore to myself if I
could somehow get out of this I would listen to him and do what he said.
But even as I made the promise, I was already waist deep in freezing water and the girl was wrapping icy fingers around my throat.
“No!” I tried to pry her fingers from around my neck but as before, her grip was supernaturally strong. I wished I knew some of the harsh language Laish used—what he had called words of power—but I didn’t. I was all alone with no one to help me.
“Not quite alone,” whispered a voice in my head…or was it my ear? For some reason I found myself looking back up at Kurex who was stamping restively. The girl’s attack on me had been so sudden I didn’t think he’d even realized what exactly was going on. But he was just an animal—could he help me?
If I’d been raised with horses or dogs—the kinds of animals that rescue or guard their owners—I might have called for him at once. But I had always been a cat person and cats, while nice, aren’t likely to fight off a burglar for you or try to drag you from a burning building. Still, I had to try—Kurex was my only hope.
“Kurex!” I gasped, trying to squeeze my voice out though I was getting less and less air with the angry girl’s fingers wrapped around my throat. “Kurex, help! Here, boy—help!”
He turned at once and seemed to see the situation for the first time. With an angry, ringing neigh, he aimed one dinner plate-sized front hoof at the girl. One sharp kick –which looked like a black blur from my point of view—and the grip around my neck loosened.
Kurex kicked again and the girl’s hands slipped away entirely. Her poison green eyes lost their spark and rolled up in her head. One side of her face was caved in and blackish blood poured from her nostrils and the corner of her mouth.
“G-good b-boy,” I gasped at Kurex, my teeth chattering. As the girl sank beneath the glassy surface of the pool, I scrabbled at the icy, snow-packed ground, trying to pull myself up. But I was so weak and cold I could make no headway. Fighting the girl seemed to have taken the last of my energy. I could feel myself slipping backwards, unable to get out. Maybe I would drown here after all, even without the murderous soul to pull me down…
Kurex gave another ringing neigh and bent down to nuzzle me anxiously with his huge nose.
“S-sorry, boy,” I gasped and the words seemed to be coming from far away. “C-can’t…”
Then his huge head moved and I felt something clamp on to the back of my sodden green gown. I gasped as I felt myself lifted and dragged out of the freezing pool by an unseen force. Suddenly I understood—the big horse had my dress in his teeth and was pulling me to safety.
He deposited me gently on the ground between his front hooves and then nosed me again. But for a moment all I could do was lie there. I was chilled to the bone and the bottom half of me was so numb I could barely feel my feet and legs. Kurex nosed me again, snorting anxiously.
“You have to get up,” whispered a little voice in my ear. “You have to or you’ll die here in this dreadful place. Get up, Gwendolyn—get up!”
“I can’t,” I told it, wondering if I was talking to myself or someone else. “I just can’t…I’m so tired. So tired…”
“What about your grandmother and your sister—the ones you love? The ones you’re going to save? What about Laish? Get up for them, even if you can’t for yourself,” the soft voice urged.
“Laish is dead,” I whispered and fresh, hot tears ran down my frozen cheeks. But somehow I found the strength to crawl to my hands and knees and from there, with the help of Kurex’s bridle, I was finally able to stand.
Clambering up onto his broad back in my present half-frozen state without help would have been impossible. Luckily there was a rock half buried in the snow a dozen yards ahead that was just the right height. I somehow scrambled onto its slippery surface and from there I was able to throw one leg across the Demon-steed’s broad back. Then I sat there, clinging to the saddle, freezing and miserable and not knowing what to do next.
Kurex snorted inquiringly and turned his head to look at me with one large eye.
“I don’t care,” I told him tiredly. “Go where you want. See if you can find us someplace warm, that’s all I ask.”
He snorted again and began moving, once more picking his way carefully down a path only he could see. Personally, I was glad everything was covered with snow as the plains of Minauros had been covered with sand. If there were thousands of pools filled with eternally-drowning murderers and murderesses on this vast tract of frozen waste, I didn’t want to know about it. I simply bent my body as close to Kurex’s warm neck as I could get and let him take me where he wanted.
After what seemed like hours but might only have been minutes, the big horse came to a stop and I heard him snort again. Forcing myself to look up, I saw a crude wooden shack set on a little bit of raised ground. Was this what passed for shelter here in Stygia? Well, at least it would be out of the freezing wind which was whipping against my numb legs and turning the folds of my wet dress to ice.
Kurex snorted again and I patted his neck.
“Good boy. Thank you—this is good.”
I half slid, half fell off his back and stumbled to the icy ground. There was a little, well-worn path leading up to the cabin. It had a thin dusting of snow and I saw cloven hoof prints leading away from it. Perhaps it belonged to some kind of shepherd who kept sheep or goats? Or maybe something much worse, whispered an ominous voice in the back of my head.
But I couldn’t afford to be afraid of what might be behind the crude wooden door of the little shack. If I stayed out here in the punishing wind which whipped snowflakes against my cheeks I was going to freeze to death.
Forcing myself forward, I climbed the small path, keeping my eyes on the ground, taking one step at a time. I had a moment of dull amazement when I realized that both my little black ballet flats were still on, despite my dip in the Drowning Pool. Wow, that was nice anyway. Or it would be if they weren’t sloshing with icy water.
Finally I reached the wooden door and reached for the latch. I swung it open as quietly as I could, not sure what to expect.
What greeted my eyes was a one-room living space—a lot like the small, dark cabins you see on those pioneer reenactment farms where everyone wears period clothes and actually churns butter. There was a bed in one corner—thankfully empty, a table with two crude wooden stools on the other side of the room and—this was what finally drew me inside—a fireplace.
There was no fire in the grate but there was wood in an untidy stack nearby. Calling fire is one of the first bits of magic a witch learns and it doesn’t take any special ceremonies or paraphernalia. As tired and frozen as I was, I thought I could manage to call a spark. And after that, if the wood was good and dry, the fire would take care of itself.
“Hello?” I said as loudly as I could, looking around as I stood just inside the door. The room looked empty but I wanted to be sure. “Hello, is anyone home?”
Silence was my only answer and I was satisfied at last that I could stay here—at least for a while.
“Okay, Kurex,” I said, turning to speak to the big horse. “This is good. It’s kind of small but we might be able to squeeze you inside if you duck and—”
But the words died in my throat. Kurex was already trotting away, going back the way we had come.
“Kurex, no!” I took a step towards him, feeling like I was losing my only friend. But the icy wind whipping just outside the doorway made me stop. I felt the stinging bite of tiny bits of ice against my cheek—the snow had turned to hail. Reluctantly, I stepped back inside and shut the door. Laish was gone and now Kurex was too.
I was all alone in Hell.
Chapter Twenty-three
Gwendolyn
It didn’t take too long to get the fire going. The wood was heavy but it was dry. When I had finally managed to dump several big, clunky logs into the iron grate of the fireplace I summoned the last of my strength and called a spark.
The spark took on the first try and soon th
e fire was licking up and down the logs hungrily. I was so tired at that point I wanted to just lay down in front of the fireplace and sleep, but I couldn’t. The wet dress was dragging me down, keeping me chilled to the bone despite the roaring fire.
I struggled with the sodden fabric, trying to get it off but it clung to me stubbornly. At last, in desperation, I managed to rip it in the middle and peel it down. I stepped out of it and kicked it to one side, standing naked in front of the fire at last. I didn’t know what I was going to wear out of here but at least now I wouldn’t freeze to death.
I had a sudden thought and went to look in my leather satchel, which I’d dumped by the door when I first came in. I didn’t like being naked and maybe the change of clothes I’d brought would finally come in handy.
It was no good though—the satchel had come with me into the Drowning Pool and my spare jeans and t-shirt were completely soaked. I left them in the satchel and went back to the fireplace.
“Ahhh…” The soft sigh broke from my lips as the warmth bathed my chilly skin. I had been afraid I might have gotten frostbite from the cold but to my relief, all my fingers and toes seemed to work normally as they warmed up. I set my little black shoes to dry by the side of the grate and turned back and forth, letting the warmth bathe my naked skin from back to front and back again.
At last I felt warm enough to explore a little—not that there was much to explore. The crude bed had no sheets—only a single stiff gray blanket on its dirty mattress. The mattress itself looked like it might be stuffed with straw or some other itchy material that poked through in places. I decided that if I had to sleep here, I would just curl up in front of the fire. Who knew what kind of vermin infested the bed?
A look at the table revealed a single wooden plate with some strips of strange looking, oily gray meat on it. Though I was hungry enough that my stomach was gnawing my backbone, as Grams liked to say, I wasn’t a bit tempted. Who knew what animal—or person—that strange looking meat had come from? I wasn’t about to find out, especially knowing that anything I ate here could tie me to the Infernal Realm indefinitely.