The Howling Delve - Jaleigh Johnson [110]
Then it was ovet. The demon passed by, charging down one of the cotridors. Talal opened his eyes and forced himself to stand, to watch the beast tun down his prey.
From his viewpoint, above the scene, Talal saw which corridor the beast chose. The figure running before the demon-so small in comparison to the beast-never had a chance. At the last moment, he turned, his weapon brandished, and fell beneath hundreds of pounds of burning muscle.
The demon came down on the sword, howling in rage and pain, raking the body beneath him from shoulders to calves. At the same time, the beast's jaws closed on his victim's neck, snapping it with one careless jerk.
Bile burned Talal's throat. So much blood, and yet the demon tan on, trailing red prints down the passage on his hunt.
Talal didn't stop to grieve. He bolted for the other tunnel.
Kali opened his eyes when the gteen light faded. Garavin and Borl stood over him. He must have blacked out from loss of blood during the transition through the portal. The dwarf was binding his arm. His holy symbol hung away from his neck, brushing against Kail's bare flesh. Kali felt the same brief, warm jolt he'd felt years ago from the telic.
"Thought I'd lost all of ye," Gatavin murmured as Kail looked around. The thtee of them wete alone in a smaller version of the cave they'd just left. The circle of stones sat to his left, but there was no chasm in the floor or shaft above. The room was dark, but for lines of dim light shining through a paii of doots at the end of a narrow passage.
"Where are the others?" Kali asked, panic rising inside him.
"They didn't come through," said Garavin. "Or they ended up somewhere else." "Is that possible?"
"In this place, who's to say? But if this other portal is old as the Delve, and what with the wizard's magic disturbing the cavern, it may have malfunctioned and scattered us about. The others should be close by, if that's the case."
"We have to find them and get out of here," said Kali.
He headed for the light. When they drew closer, Kali realized the double doors ascended over two stories up the rock. A winch was attached to the doors to pull them open.
"I wonder if the dwarves built this," said Kail.
"Only way out," said Garavin.
They took hold of the crank together and pulled. The mechanism ground with age and neglect, but turned after a moment of coaxing. The doors ground against stone, the sounds echoing loudly in the passage. When the doors were half-open, Kali signaled Garavin to stop and peered out through the man-sized opening.
"Gods above," Kail murmured in awe.
Kail stepped out onto the narrow stone bridge that extended just beyond the double doors. Garavin and Borl came to stand beside him. A memoty surfaced, of meeting Meisha on the Star Bridge outside Keczulla. The markings on this bridge were strikingly similar, except there was no roaring river beneath his feet, only an endless, black abyss stretching off in both directions.
Below and above, more bridges joined two steep rock walls divided like the parting of a great, barren sea. On both sides, tunnels honeycombed the walls-some were open, others secured with doors similar to the ones they'd just passed through. Blocks of a strange, clear substance obstructed three doors; they seemed to writhe and twist within the confines of the stone portals.
"What are those?" Kail asked.
Garavin looked where he pointed. "Gelatinous cubes," he said.
"Amazing," Kali murmured. For as far as he could see, thete were only the tunnels and the rock walls, and the bridges over the abyss. It was as if they'd stepped into an underground labyrinth. They had only to choose a door.
Morgan whipped around the corner and stopped, listening.