Page 99 of Princess

“The tunnel has been breached,” a Shadow Woman said loudly.

I jumped my feet.The women grabbed children and placed them in the far corner establishing a defensive wall around them.Maylin had injected them with the serum that hopefully would protect them from a hellhound bite or scratch.No one knew if it would work because they didn’t shift to Warrior.They had no claws or teeth and I had no idea how they would protect the children.If they couldn’t fight, they were only good for babysitting.My mind snapped back to the present as the sound of scraping claws and muffled growls filled the tunnel.A few children cried, but I wasn’t afraid.

I’d watched the hellhounds kill too many people.One day it would happen to me.I wanted to die fighting.Togg placed his hand on my back.

“Like we’ve trained,” he said.

I nodded, then looked toward the entrance.

The first two grotesque shapes materialized.Togg, in his Warrior form, leapt in front of me and attacked the hounds.Julia and I spread further apart.The other kids on our team did the same.Togg killed the first two hounds and grabbed at two more, but one broke free.

Julia struck first, and I came in from the other side.Its claw almost got me, but I was too quick.Our group fought just as we had trained.It was my strike that ended its life.There was no time to cheer because another broke past Togg.No, two.

A Shadow Woman landed on one.I was shocked because she attacked with a blade.I hadn’t realized any of them were armed.I thrust my sword into the side of the hellhound in front of me, pulled back, and another one of our team came in low and stabbed its gut.Che took the next swipe.He was supposed to be behind the line of Shadow Women, but I should have known he would fight.

He stayed in close and didn’t pull back.I grabbed his shirt and jerked him away.Then it was my turn again.We took the hound down.

I was breathing hard as I looked for another.Togg clamped a hound in his jaws and tore its head off.That was pretty cool.I would never have teeth or claws, but I had a bloody sword in my hand, and that was cool, too.

I glanced behind me and saw the Shadow Women facing the entrance, each with a knife in their hands.Two of them were injured by hellhounds, but it didn’t look serious, at least if the serum worked.

“What do we do?”I yelled at Togg.

“The hounds made it through, and that means the guards are dead.We need to block the entrance so the hounds can’t get as close.”

Our team followed Togg.Yes, he was bossy, but he never treated me like a child.I wasn’t that old yet, but there was no time to be young when people all around me died.

The door separating the tunnel from daylight was torn off its hinges and lay a few feet away.

“Explosives,” Togg explained quietly.

That meant there were human soldiers somewhere.They had sent the hellhounds in.

My back straightened.The soldiers would know that children were down here, and they didn’t care.

“What do we do?”I whispered to Togg.

“We wait.If we go outside, they’ll take us out.Move closer to the walls and stick to the shadows.”

We followed his direction.It seemed like forever before a man stuck his head in and then pulled back out of sight.

“Block the tunnel again, and we’ll let the hellhounds finish them,” a soldier said.

Togg sprang forward and burst outside.The sounds the soldiers made were horrible.Julia was in front of me.She was the only one with a gun, and a shot rang in my ears.A soldier fell.I ran forward and brought my sword down on his neck.It took four strikes to take off his head.

Togg fell back with a soldier in his grasp.Several shots rang out, and Togg’s body jerked.I stabbed my sword into the soldier’s side.Togg rolled over and released the man.

Julia fired again, and the soldier stopped fighting.The smoke from the gunfire wrapped around us.Several of our team ran forward and looked outside.Someone yelled, “Clear.”

“Guard the entrance,” Julia shouted at them.

I dropped to my knees by Togg.

“I’ll be okay,” he said.

I wasn’t sure what to do.He didn’t sound okay, and blood was seeping past his hands and claws where he held his stomach.His head fell back.

“Togg?”

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