Knights of the Grey City

Chapter 39 - EPICENTRE

We reversed so I was in the lead, following the slight increase in toxicity relayed to me by my sense. It took a surprising amount of concentration. The shift was so slight, I had to project my sense to a wider range than usual to keep track of it.

That's why the second spider got the drop on me.

It shot down through the dirt above, and this time I was too slow to get out of the way. Its front legs slammed shut around my neck, locking in with the force of a machine, then lifted me up with astounding strength into the hole it had made in the ceiling.

When it had tried to do this to Huang, it had seemed like it might actually succeed at spiriting him away, but I was much more formidable prey. It had the strength to pull my head up into the dirt and not much more, as I planted my back legs on the ceiling and twisted out of its grip. I couldn't see anything and could only feel the press of stone and dirt around my head, but I could sense where the spider was and lunged, sinking my teeth into one of its legs. I pulled myself down out of the ceiling, dragging it with me.

The whole thing happened in just a few seconds, but Huang was already leaping to my aid. "Eyes!" he barked again, flaring his wings at the spider. At the piercing light, it scrambled away, then tried to dart up back into its tunnel.

I snapped at it, but missed. Luckily, Katie did not miss, flashing past me and sinking her teeth into the spider's leg just as it reached its tunnel. She dragged it back out again, slamming it to the earth below, and gave it a bath of fire.

It was taken care of, but my sense caught another flicker of movement up above, and I dove out of the way as a second spider went for me.

Huang flew overhead and smashed into it shoulder-first, tearing it from the ceiling. I slashed at it even though I knew I wouldn't do much damage. Katie quickly whirled around to deliver some armour-crushing attacks, aided by Huang shining brightly above.

The dirt settled, the spiders began to dissolve, and we looked at each other, panting for breath.

"I'd say we're on the right track," I said.

The ink trails drifted ahead of us, making our path clear. The further we travelled, the more the walls were made of packed dirt rather than concrete and metal, which meant we'd be vulnerable to spider attacks at any point. It also made me feel somewhat claustrophobic, even though my sense reported that the structural integrity of the tunnels was very sturdy.

After what felt like fifteen or twenty minutes the tunnel opened up into a huge cavern.

The ceiling was made of stone and dirt, arcing high above us in a dome, where circular skylights allowed a dull bluish glow. The ground was made of scuffed concrete; inset paths radiated from the centre of the cavern to six tunnels placed at even intervals along the walls. I hesitantly stepped out, scanning the cavern with my spatial sense. It was quiet, and below the layer of concrete under our feet, I could sense water rushing.

"Oh, thank God. Room to breathe," Katie said as she loped out behind me, the Firedrake stretching out the length of her body along the path and flapping her wings.

"Don't know if we're safe in here," I said, though my instincts were telling me the opposite. The presence of water and open space was calming me down significantly, despite the danger I was expecting and the toxic stink of the demons. I slowly walked toward the centre of the cavern, where my sense identified something strange in the floor.

It was another skylight, like the ones on the ceiling, though it looked down into the tumbling, black water under the floor. I tried to peer down into it, but the green light from my eyes barely pierced the surface.