Richard Ford - Lord of Ashes

Her heart was pounding now, her breath coming short and sharp as her feet clapped down the tunnel. To his credit Tidge didn’t make a fuss nor ask no questions — he ran right alongside her like his life depended on it. And there weren’t much fucking doubt his life did depend on it.

She was running blind now. Any chance she’d had of remembering which tunnel led where was gone. Best they could do was try and avoid the howling, especially since she’d just seen what was on the other end of it.

So desperate was she to escape that she didn’t give a shit what waited for them down the tunnels or in the little caves they came out in. Didn’t slow as she ran out into a bright-lit chamber. Didn’t see Bastian waiting for her or the big old blade in his hand.

Luckily her reactions were still quick enough, so she ducked in time before he could cut her head off.

Rag stumbled, falling to the floor, skinning her knees and her palms. Tidge tried his best to pull her to her feet as Bastian came at them.

‘You’ve fucked it,’ he said, pressing that knife to her throat and entwining his bony fingers in her hair. ‘You fucked it all.’

Tidge struck out, hitting Bastian in the side of his big skeleton’s head, but he didn’t even flinch, just swept Tidge off his feet with the back of his hand.

‘We have to run,’ Rag said desperately. ‘Believe me, we have to run.’

Bastian smiled, teeth like gravestones, breath like a sewer. ‘Oh, I will be running. Just as soon as I’ve-’

A howl long and loud and all too close stopped him before he could finish. Bastian looked over his shoulder, doubt creeping onto his face.

‘We told you,’ said Tidge, standing there rubbing his cheek.

Bastian took a step back and Rag was sure she could see the hand holding his knife shaking. She could understand how he felt; she was shaking so hard she might just as well have been caught naked in winter snows.

A shadow fell across the entrance to the room and it seemed to leach the light from the surrounding lanterns. An arm reached from the shadows, long and pale, tipped with black claws that sank into the earth.

Rag looked at Tidge, signalling for him to come close. He moved towards her and they both backed away. Behind them the cavern rose up into the dark and they began to crawl. Bastian just stood there, watching as that creature clawed its way from the black.

‘What the fuck?’ said Bastian, having the smarts to back up now. He might have been the head of the Guild with the power to have anyone he wanted murdered with a word, but there was no way he was messing with this thing.

Still the creature came on, sliding from the shadows on all fours. Rag could see another of the things behind it, clawing its way into the room, clinging to the wall like a cockroach.

She had made it up the rise now but there was nowhere else to go, just a tiny little inlet to a tunnel beyond, maybe big enough for Tidge to fit through but Rag had no chance. She glanced back down again as she heard Bastian say one word …

‘Dead!’

He was staring straight at her.

As Bastian ran towards her, knife held up, the beasts that were stalking him ran too. He stumbled up the rise to the back of the cavern and Rag desperately shoved Tidge through the gap in the rock wall. He turned when he was through, holding his hand out to her, but Rag knew there was no way she’d fit.

She turned back in time to see Bastian bearing down. He grabbed her by the ankle, dragging her towards him, and that knife came down. Rag tried to hold his arm back but he was too strong, the blade biting into her cheek. She screamed, kicked out, flailed, fighting for her life but it was useless.

‘Fucking dead,’ said Bastian.

Rotten fingers pressed their black talons into his cheek as the cavern rumbled. Bastian’s eyes went wide as the flesh burst, tearing from his face. He gasped, the sharp outtake of breath rising hideously into a scream of agony. Rag watched in horror as the beast dragged Bastian’s face off, blood oozing as the bone and muscle was unveiled beneath.

Bastian was screaming continuously, high and long as the two creatures dragged him back down the ridge. Rag couldn’t pull her eyes away, couldn’t close them as she saw him being torn to bits. One dragged his arm from its socket, the other biting down hard on his lower jaw, ripping it from his torn face.

As Rag watched, a third beast moved into the cavern from the dark, sniffing the other two as they feasted. Then it smelled the air, black eyes gazing around the cavern until they fell on Rag. It hissed, and she scrambled backwards, but there weren’t nowhere else to run to. Tidge reached out from the tunnel, grabbing her shirt to pull her in, but there was no way through for her.

‘You have to go,’ she said as the creature clawed its way towards her, hunger in its black eyes.

‘I ain’t going nowhere,’ he replied.

She turned to him, looking at his little dirty tear-streaked face to demand he go, when the entire cavern rumbled again. This time some masonry fell from the roof, smashing down to the ground and shattering. One of the things feasting on Bastian lifted its head, then howled so loud Rag had to clap her hands over her ears.

Like an invisible hand had taken hold of it, the creature slid across the cavern floor towards the entranceway. It howled, clawing at the ground for purchase, but there was nothing to grab. As the cavern rumbled again it disappeared through the tunnel, screaming its defiance.

Rag stared in disbelief as the second beast was also dragged away screaming, as though some divine wind had blown it from the cavern. The third creature stared at her, still moving its way up the ridge. It was almost within reach now, staring and snarling and clawing its way closer. Then it slid back down the rise, its claws leaving ridges in the stone. One last snarl and it was dragged through the air and across the cavern to disappear with a defiant roar.

The rumbling continued, more of the ceiling dropping free as the cave began to collapse. Rag turned to see part of the rock barring her way to Tidge and the tunnel beyond had been dislodged.

‘Let’s get the fuck out of here!’ she cried, crawling inside as Tidge moved through the little tunnel.

It was dark and wet inside, and Rag followed Tidge’s arse as he struggled through the blackness. The rumbling never stopped and at any moment Rag expected the tunnel to collapse, enclosing them in a tomb till the end of time. She breathed out, holding back her tears, when she saw there was light from ahead.

About time a bit of luck went your way, Rag. Best not get used to it though.

Desperately they scrabbled forward through the tunnel until eventually they both fell into the street through a little drainage outlet. It was light now, the rain stopped and everything eerily silent. She recognised the street they were on, but she couldn’t remember when she’d ever seen it so quiet.

Rag looked down at Tidge and his filthy little face. ‘You all right?’

‘Do I fucking look all right?’ he answered.

Rag let out a little laugh. ‘You look like I feel,’ she said, licking her thumb to wipe some of the dirt from his face, then reconsidering. There was far too much shit for one thumb to wipe. Tidge would need a bath after all this, and she knew he’d rather have faced another of those evil bastard creatures than be given that news.

On the walk back to the tavern the streets didn’t get any louder. The Khurtas didn’t come screaming through looking for people to kill and rape. No one stopped them as they walked up the street, bold as brass. For the first time in days the sound of battle didn’t echo over the rooftops.

When she stepped into the tavern she expected it to be empty since she’d ordered them all to hide. What she saw made her stop dead, panic gripping her stomach.