Darkwell - Douglas Niles [95]
"If I live to be a hundred, I'll never ask to see anything like this again," said Tavish, awestruck.
"I'm older than that, and I've never even heard of anything like this before!" whispered Pawldo. Even Newt sat quietly for once, gazing at the miraculous flow.
"No time to lose now!" Tavish shook off her reverie and placed the folding boat on the rim of the gorge. "Everybody get ready to jump in. Once it unfolds, its own weight will topple it into the water, and we won't get a second chance. You, too. Yak!" She gestured at the box and the water, though the firbolg managed to look more confused than ever.
"Garanday!" she cried. The box immediately flipped open, doubling its size. But it didn't stop there. The sides flopped down, unfolding again and again until the rough outline of a boat took shape. Then the keel stretched forth from the bottom of the box, and the whole craft tilted crazily, barely balanced on the rim of the gorge.
"Get in!" shouted the bard, diving toward the tiller and seizing the shaft in her hands. The other companions leaped in a similar chaotic fashion, and even Yak and Canthus tumbled into the boat as it slipped off the rocks and splashed into the water. A cascade of icy spray soaked them, but then the bard steadied the helm.
The current swept them along, rolling down the gorge with startling speed, Tavish hauled on the tiller with all her strength, narrowly missing a huge outcrop of rock, and then they slid wildly around a corner. Their launching place, and the end of their visible trail, quickly disappeared behind them.
* * * * *
With a sharp cry, Kamerynn reared. He sighted on the creature's flat skull and brought his front hooves down to crush it. Then he lurched to the ground in surprise as his attack met no resistance, for the thing was not where it appeared to be!
The unicorn felt raking claws dig into his flank, and he whirled in desperation, flailing at the air with his sharp horn. He felt the horn meet resistance and drove it forcefully against the invisible form there. Kamerynn was rewarded by a shrill cry of pain and rage.
Then one of the monster's horny tentacles wrapped around the unicorn's throat, and he felt once more the raking claws across his breast. Kamerynn reared and kicked with his powerful forehooves. For a moment, the monster twisted, impaled on the horn. Kamerynn looked at the snarling, hateful face below him and tried to guess at the monster's actual position.
He ducked his head and kicked forward into the air to the left of the creature's apparent location. But he was terribly, fatefully wrong.
Once again his attack met no resistance, and this time, he felt an awful weight land upon his back, twisting his heck backward as the creature remained impaled. Claws sank deep into Kamerynn's flanks, and the creature's tentacles lashed his neck again and again. The unicorn reared backward, but he could not dislodge the supernatural predator.
He bucked and kicked, tossing the beast around and trying to drive his horn ever deeper into the twisting body. But then, with a sharp snap, the horn of the unicorn cracked and broke off. It remained stuck in the monster, but it no longer held it away from the unicorn.
Then Kamerynn felt the long fangs at his throat, felt the powerful jaws close and drive the teeth through his skin, his muscle, his windpipe. With a strangled gasp, the unicorn fell to the ground.
Then the jaws completed their deadly work, snapping the bones of the proud neck, and Kamerynn – the last of the children of the goddess – kicked his last and died.
XIII
A Deeper Darkness
"Hold on!" Tavish grinned with delight as the boat ducked and bobbed through the water. She handled the tiller with skill, avoiding the numerous obstacles that reared suddenly in their path.
Tristan looked behind them and saw no sign