Page 79 of Reap the Night
Fleshy and bloody and… “Hemlock?”Scuttle scratch scratch.“What was that?”
Hemlock tensed. “Let’s head back.”
“What is it?”
He kept his hold on me, drawing me away from the shadows. “Probably nothing, but my gut says we should?—”
Dark shapes shot out of the burrows and into the chamber. Hemlock wrapped his arms around me, his body vibrating with tension as several batlings surrounded us, red eyes glowing in the gloom.
“Halt!” Hemlock called out. “Stand down!”
A finger of dread slid up my spine as the creatures circled us even as I reminded myself that these were Ezekiel’s minions. They wouldn’t hurt us.
Hemlock released me but laced his fingers through mine. “We’re leaving now.” His voice held command as we took a step toward the tunnel we’d come through.
The batlings closed in.
“What are you doing?” Hemlock asked. “You know who I am.”
The batlings parted to admit a larger gray one. “Barin knows who you are,” he said. “Barin will letyoupass. But she stays.” He pointed a finger at me, and ice pooled in my belly. I’d never seen him before, but there was intelligence in his eyes. Like Godor. Except half his face was twisted and mottled with scar tissue that swept down his shoulder and arm.
“She belongs to your master,” Hemlock said.
“We have no master. No longer. No more. We are free.”
“Free? Is that why you’re down here?” Hemlock asked. “Because you’re free?”
He snarled. “Give her or we take, and you will be hurt. I do not wish to hurt you. One chance for the debt owed. One chance you walk away.”
“We need her,” Hemlock said. “She’s the key to breaking the curse.”
“Argh, the curse, the curse.Hiscurse,notours. Now that he is looking elsewhere, we can finally see. No longer in here.” He tapped his temple. “We see we can be free, curse or no.”
The batlings closed in, and my heart jumped into my throat because we were trapped. There was nowhere to run and no way to fight without weapons.
“GIVE!” Barin lunged at us, and flames leapt up to circle Hemlock and me. Barin fell back, wild-eyed. The others squealed, but Barin stood frozen, chest heaving as he watched the dancing flames, and it hit me that the scars on his body were from burns, and he was terrified, but the terror soon morphed to rage that matched the burning flame before him.
“Cruel,” he spat. “You too cruel.”
“Back up!” Hemlock ordered. “Back up or I’ll burn you all.”
Barin made a series of clicks and squeaks, and the batlings fell back.
Hemlock steered us toward the tunnel, and the flames came with us, protecting us.
I glanced up at him, at the bead of sweat trickling down his brow and the golden veins crawling up from beneath the collar of his shirt.
“Hemlock…”
He clenched his teeth and shook his head in warning.
We passed into the tunnel, and he squeezed my hand. “Run.” The flames winked out, and we ran.
The sounds of pursuit turned my bowels liquid, but I focused on the path ahead, on keeping up with Hemlock. The exit was only a few minutes away at this pace.
But the batlings were fast too. I could sense them getting close, gaining on us. Hemlock must have done so too because he threw a jet of flame down the tunnel to slow them down.
They fell back for a moment, but Barin yelled at them to push forward. To not be afraid. “He cannot use his power much more.”
