Blood and Fire

FOUR

The shadows crawled over her skin, slithering and hissing at her as she sprinted through them. Her arms were covered in scratches from jagged edges she hadn't seen before nearly colliding with them, and her legs ached from how hard she was pushing herself.

The scraping and clacking of those talons against the floor was the only thing that kept her running. It was getting closer and closer, echoing in her ears. They were going to die, she realised. They were going to be eaten by those hideous creatures before they even got out of the building.

"Your fear will only excite them," Lazarus snapped at her. He was barely out of breath, his palm cool against hers. She glared at his back. "There's a staircase somewhere back here," he was saying. In the darkness, Mara couldn't see a damned thing. "I need you to really sprint, sunshine."

"I am sprinting," she panted through gritted teeth.

Lazarus began to slow, and her eyes widened in panic. If they stopped, those things would catch up to them. If they stopped, they died. He was running beside her, both of them at the same pace. It was significantly slower than the speed she knew he could move at, and part of her was thankful he hadn't just left her behind.

"The staircase is narrow, and stupidly steep," he told her. His eyes scanned the passage ahead of them, the silver flecks in them near-glowing. "I'm going to lead them away long enough for you to get outside. When you do, run straight for the palace courtyard."

He was going to leave her alone. Alone, to navigate the shadows and find some hidden staircase to safety. She could only nod, her throat too dry for the words she wanted to yell at him.

"Good." He let go of her hand, and she instantly stumbled. They were practically jogging now, her harsh, uneven breathing echoing. The clacking grew louder behind them. Lazarus gripped her shoulder and swung her, propelling her down a narrow passage she hadn't been able to see. "Keep going straight," he called after her. "I'll find you at the courtyard."

Then he was gone. Cold air hit her back, and she reached out for the walls. There was barely enough room for her to stretch her arms out, and the floor beneath her was covered in so much debris that she kept tripping and stumbling. Blindly moving forwards, Mara held her breath against the rancid odour that seeped from the walls the further along the passage she shuffled.

When her foot slipped down onto the first step, Mara nearly toppled down them all. A panicked squeak left her lips, the sound echoing both in front of her and behind her. She slapped a hand over her mouth, willing her breathing to be as shallow and quiet as possible. She stayed there, frozen, for a whole minute, before she moved again. The steps were steeper than she had thought, despite Lazarus's warning, the edge of the first brushing against the back of her knees when she stepped down.

Her descent was painfully slow, the walls closing in the further down she went. God, it reeked down here. It smelled like rotted flesh, fish, and brine, all mixing together in a choking perfume. Dust rained on her as something crashed overhead, and she moved as fast as she dared down the last few steps. Then there was grass beneath her feet, and the walls opened out to reveal a half destroyed room.

It could have been a kitchen, judging by the huge furnace to her right, one side of it melted into a glob in the grass. Mara blinked at the moonlight shining through the rotted wood rafters above her head. She moved for the collapsed wall in front of her, already searching for the great, looming palace she had seen before.

The clacking and scraping of talons sounded from her left, and she whirled. There was Lazarus, moving so quickly that he was a pale blur, with not three but seven of those creatures sprinting after him. He took a sharp left, and one of the beasts went careening into the building. Stone cracked, and a good portion of the wall collapsed inwards.