Her heart sped up. Okay. Now, I’m trapped between giant flesh-hungry insects and a cliff.
A third caterpillar inched down a mushroom stalk to her right, and a fourth flanked her from the left. Her throat tightened. I’m definitely a fuckwit. Good to know. They closed in on her, and she clenched her fingers on the hilt of the obsidian blade.
On the path, one of the caterpillars reared up before her, like a snake ready to strike its prey. Her blood roaring, Ursula slashed at the caterpillar’s body. Cera’s blade sliced deeply into its flesh.
The caterpillar fell back with a shriek. The other insects stared at it, as if in horror. Then they lunged for it, tearing into its flesh.
She loosed a breath. Better him than me.
She scanned the horizon, searching for a place she could shadow run. But the entire path now crawled with caterpillars, a sea of writhing fur. Running was not an option. As soon as they were done feasting on their fallen comrade, they’d come for her. She slashed at another insect, cutting into the flesh below its head. Shrieking, it writhed on the ground. She kicked it backward, toward the oncoming crowd of hungry predators.
Like sharks scenting blood, the caterpillars descended on it ravenously. How long can I keep this up? She gasped for breath. Her muscles burned. Something brushed her foot and she looked down to see a caterpillar only inches from her. Instinctively she kicked it over the edge of the cliff. The creature cartwheeled down in a whirl of fur, bouncing off the sides before splattering on a mushroom cap.
If she didn’t find a way out of here, she’d be joining the caterpillar corpse on that mushroom cap, her guts splattered over the lower forest.
The sound of bats shrieking echoed off the walls, and a spark of hope lit in her chest. Is there a chance that Sotz is out there somewhere?
She whistled sharply, just as a caterpillar lunged for her. She dove to the side, dodging its attack, and her face smacked hard into a rock. Pain shot through her skull. Still, it had worked. The caterpillar’s momentum carried it over the side of the cliff.
Around her, the other caterpillars edged closer, ready to finish her off. Panic ripped her mind apart. How the fuck do I get out of this?
She gripped the knife, pointing it at the giant larvae. “Back off, you furry fuck-maggots!” she bellowed.
Instantly, the larvae stilled their movements.
She frowned. Why the hell did that work?
Behind her, the distant flapping of wings beat the air, and relief washed through her. Sotz.
The caterpillars weren’t scared of her, but apparently, they were scared of bats. She glanced behind her, thrilling at the sight of Sotz’s dark shape descending. She whistled again. Hurry.
With nowhere to land, he flew along the edge of the cliff. As he passed under her, she jumped.
Chapter 42
She clung to Sotz, breathing in the familiar smell of his fur, feeling the comforting beating of his heart. She sucked in a shaky breath, her legs trembling. She’d survived, by the skin of her teeth.
All around them, bats shrieked, their voices echoing off the walls. Still, a sense of calm warmed her body. If she could survive an attack by a legion of caterpillars, maybe she had a chance against Bournajoux.
She leaned down, whispering, “Take me home.”
Sotz soared through the darkness. As the light dimmed, the cacophony of the rookery dampened. After a few minutes of peaceful darkness, they burst into the light of the crater. Asta’s now-familiar spire towered over the ground—an oddly welcome sight at this point.
Sotz curved in a slow arc toward the manor.
Ursula took a deep breath, reveling in the clean air, the feel of the wind and the milky sunlight on her skin. She belonged in the air—not buried in a dark tunnel.
Sotz swooped low toward the manor’s roof, then landed gracefully on its slick surface. Ursula caught her breath, her heart still pounding hard.
“Thank you for coming for me, big guy.” She rose, her muscles aching. Not super bright to get into a fight before my actual fight, but too late to fix it now.
For a moment, Sotz brushed against her leg like a cat, then launched himself off the roof.
As she walked to the lift, she touched her heart, feeling it pounding hard through her shirt. She stepped into the lift, and a stiff lunar breeze rushed over her skin.
The elevator slowly creaked down, past one shattered floor after another, and she wrapped her fingers around the metal bars. She still had no clue what Bael had been doing with the oneiroi. She had no idea he interacted with them at all. How exactly had he ended up with the Gray Ghost in a mushroom forest?