Page 97 of Made

“Occurs to me that if Kagan answers, we could get a fix on him. Save a lot of time. And effort.” Needing a dose of patience, Keir inhaled deeply, but the breath was choked when his lungs rejected something in the air being breathed. Killian pounded him on the back. “Alright?”

Keir shoved him away and was about to say something sarcastic, but Exscruffenrox’s sudden barking grabbed the thought right out of his head. They’d entered a chamber where the walls had narrowed so that there was barely enough room for single file.

They could see that the damned were fleeing ahead of Exscruffenrox and both brothers wondered how they would’ve managed without the assistance of Hades’ hound.

“KAGAN!” Killian yelled again.

“Will you stop that?” Keir demanded. “Please!”

“Why? We might hear ‘im. And I can no’ see a downside.”

Exscruffenrox, who’d never stopped barking once they’d entered the cave, had sped up to a trot. Keir and Killian couldn’t see a reason for the increased pace, but they had no trouble keeping up. The narrow chamber abruptly ended, spilling them into a cavernous space as large as the inside of the eighth modern wonder of the world.

The light from the torches was not powerful enough to reach the upper limits of the formation. Still, they could see thousands of shadows hanging from the sides of the walls like Velcro.

“Here,” came a sound both distant and faint.

“Did you hear that?” Killian asked.

“Yeah,” Keir said. “Call him again!”

“KAGAN!” Killian repeated while he continued trotting, hopefully moving in the direction of the voice they’d both heard. Sound behaves in odd ways in caves, but they had to look somewhere.

“Here.”

Keir and Killian were encouraged by the slight increase in volume.

“Excruffenrox. Do you hear that?” Keir asked.

“Yes. We are going there.”

When Excruffenrox picked up speed and outdistanced them, the shadowy remnants of people became attracted to the heat and hope of living bodies. They crowded in on Keir and Killian.

Being touched by a damned soul is an experience no sane person would invite. It’s unforgettable in the way of triggering recurring night terrors.

“EXSCRUFFENROX!” Keir shouted.

The monster almost skidded to a stop before turning to see what had befallen his companions. He immediately whirled on his haunches and ran toward the flocking that had formed around the lions. As soon as the wispy bits of rot saw Exscruffenrox turn back toward them, they skittered back up the walls to hang, watchful, like single-minded vampires.

“Wow, Exscruffenrox. You’re the bad ass boss down here,” said Killian.

Exscruffenrox was too busy making sure his tickets to freedom remained safe to ask what the lion was talking about.

“Now that we have a fix on him, let’s get there sooner rather than later,” Keir said.

By way of clarification, because it found communication with the lions somewhat challenging, it said, “Speed up?”

“Yes,” Keir answered. “Speed up, but don’t leave us behind.”

Excruffenrox turned and lunged into a lope the sephalia could match in biped form. After the passage of only a few more minutes, the torchlight found up a spot of color in the abject blackness. The red Henley Kagan was wearing. Not much of him could be seen because shadow souls had swarmed him like bees on a hive. They were trying to steal goodness. If not that, a little warmth. If not that, a little hope. Unfortunately, the damned can only dream of what might’ve been had they resisted the temptations of evildoing. They’d been people who were twisted, or cruel, or focused on accumulating wealth or power byanymeans.

They could hang on Kagan. They could rub against him. They could keep him pinned down, but they could not extract a bright moment of peace or purity. In their minds, they were begging and pleading, but Kagan heard nothing other than whispers that sounded like fabric friction.

Kagan’s soul was so worthy that he’d never been tempted by evil deeds. His soul was a river to fish in. His soul was unshakable loyalty to his brothers. His soul was content with simple things like the beauty of ruined castles and complex things like the love of a witch named Esmerelda.

Running head on, barking notched up a pitch, Excruffenrox scattered the would-be spirit thieves like ashes in the wind. And, every step of the way, Keir and Killian had been grateful for the monster’s help. Each acknowledged privately that the mission could not have succeeded without that highly specialized assistance.

Kagan took a deep breath and stood up straight. “I was thinkin’ about gettin’ worried.”

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