Yutani immediately fired an arrow toward Kuveo’s heart. It bit deep but the creature barely seemed to notice it, yanking out the quarrel and tossing it aside. He let out a low growl and his tongue lolled out the side of his mouth, slobber dripping down.
“Fuck that. He’s hungry.” Visions of his victims flashed through my mind, their bodies ripped to shreds. I didn’t have any plans on joining their company. I edged to the side, holding my dagger ready. I needed a distance weapon, I thought. Tomorrow, I’d be out in the field, practicing with the company bows, provided we survived this.
Herne pulled out a blowgun and several darts. The darts looked small and useless against such a large creature, but that didn’t seem to faze him as he began shooting.
Viktor unsheathed his short sword and began to edge around the side of Kuveo. He was going to try for the tails, but he would need a distraction. I glanced down at the floor and saw several loose rocks lying around. I swept up several and began pelting Kuveo with them, hitting him square between the eyes. While the rocks bounced off, I managed to get his attention and he turned toward me, offering Viktor better access.
Herne managed to land two of the darts. He dropped the blowgun and pulled out his dagger. “We need to buy several minutes, but that should slow him down.”
“They were coated?” I asked, dancing out of the way as the creature charged toward me. He was fast, faster than I had expected, and I barely missed being eviscerated. It was easy to see how he mutilated his victims now, and I forgot all about my question as I started to run, with Kuveo right after me.
The heavy thumping of his feet behind me left no doubt as to how close he was. I could feel his breath on my neck in the damp, cool air. I dodged to the left, around a stalagmite on the outer edge of the chamber, and then circled in a figure-eight pattern around yet another one.
Kuveo tripped on a boulder, sprawling forward as he skidded along the rough floor, but before I could swing around to try slicing off one of his tails, he was on his feet again, charging after me. The moment’s respite gave me just enough time to figure out where I was and I took off again. Viktor and Herne were just catching up—apparently I could run faster than they could. At least when I had a raging maniac monster behind me.
I saw a corner up ahead behind a pile of rocks that looked long and narrow enough for me to hide in and be out of his reach. At least, I thought Kuveo was too large to follow me in there. As I slid into the v-shaped niche and struggled to push myself back as far as I could, Kuveo lashed out, his long arms coming perilously close to ripping into me, but there was about twelve inches to spare. I sucked in my gut, just to make sure. The question was, would he be able to rip out the rocks in order to get to me before the others could take him down?
“Keep his interest!” Herne’s voice echoed from behind Kuveo.
“I don’t think I can do much else!” I yelled back, jabbing at his long, furry paws with my dagger. Kuveo let out a shriek of frustration and began to thrash against the rocks.
I snorted, but then he grabbed hold of my blade, cutting his paw as he wrapped his fist around it and yanking it toward him. Luckily, I was still taking my own advice and hadn’t been holding it tightly. I let go before he could drag me forward.
Then Kuveo froze before raising his head. He let out a shriek that echoed through the chamber, almost deafening me.
He dropped my dagger and spun around, and I saw that three of his nine tails were gone. He was bleeding profusely and for a brief moment—but only briefly—I felt sorry for him.
I grabbed my dagger as Kuveo charged toward the others. I saw the tails on the ground, and Herne’s blade was dripping with blood. We needed to knock him down to cut off the rest, because if we only took out one more, he would vanish back to his realm with his mission still intact.
I estimated whether I could body slam him from here. I probably could, but I doubted if my weight would knock him off his feet. The next moment, my theorizing became moot as Kuveo charged toward the others, breaking through them as he headed for the tunnel from which he had come. He moved like the wind, so fast that it seemed to defy how big of a creature he was. As he vanished into the tunnel, leaving a trail of blood behind him, I stumbled out of the nook.
“Should we go after him?” I didn’t relish chasing him through the tunnels.
“No,” Herne said. “That space is too enclosed. We’d be at a distinct disadvantage.” He let out a sigh. “He’s going to find someplace to heal. But there may have another way to track him.” He knelt by the tails and the puddle of blood. “Yutani, have a body bag?”
I blinked. “You carry body bags?”
“Figure of speech,” Yutani said, handing what looked like a large plastic bag to Herne. “We carry bags that seal reliably for cases like this.”
Herne gingerly picked up the three tails and dropped them into the bag. “Come on. We need to get a move on before Kuveo heals up enough to go after Névé. I wish I could warn her, but we can’t. Let’s go.” He turned, motioning for us to follow him back through the tunnel to the spiral staircase. I fell into line, wandering what he had in mind next.
AS WE SHUFFLED back to the car, I hoped that we were done for the night.
While the three of us scrambled into our seats, Herne stayed outside, leaning against his door as he put in a call to someone. I leaned against the backseat, exhausted. I was pretty sure my body would be a kaleidoscope of colorful bruises by morning. Viktor looked just as ragged, and Yutani still looked green around the gills. I had the feeling he was going to have one hell of an energy hangover by morning. I yawned, just wanting to close my eyes and rest.
“Here,” Viktor said, stretching out his arm. “Rest. Ogres make great pillows.”
I was so tired I didn’t even question him. I just leaned my head against his chest. Damned if he didn’t make a good pillow, all right. And he didn’t smell anything like I would expect an ogre to smell like. In fact, he smelled a little like Calvin Klein or some other designer fragrance.
“You’re not used to this. At least, not with our group. I imagine you’ve pulled a few doozies on your own.” He sounded so friendly that I couldn’t take offense. In fact, it felt good to sprawl out on the car seat.
I snuggled closer, drifting. It had to be past midnight, or at least it felt like it to me.
“Call me in the morning,” I said, closing my eyes.
“Not so fast.” Herne slid back into the driver’s seat, frowning when he saw me curled up on Viktor’s arm. He buckled in. “Sit up and fasten your seatbelts. We’re making a stop in Medina.”
“Is that where you think Kuveo is headed?” I felt all sorts of grumpy. I didn’t want to go to Medina. I wanted to go home.
“No, but that’s where my source lives who can tell us where he might be.” He sounded a little bit reticent, and Yutani gave him a long look.
“Oh please, don’t tell me we’re going to go visit her. The last time we did that, you warned Viktor and me to stop you the next time you got the bright idea to bring her in on a case. Newsflash, dude: it’s the next time.” Yutani sounded so disgusted that I forgot about being tired and straightened up, buckling my seatbelt as I watched the interplay.
“I know what you’re thinking. I really do. And normally, I’d agree. But we can’t give up. And you know that she can help.” Herne seemed dead set on whatever it was he was planning.
Viktor let out a little huff. “Fucking hell. You know he’s right.”
“Who’s right?” Herne asked. “Yutani or me?”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake. Both of you. I feel the same way Yutani does and I’m not going to hide it. If I never lay eyes on that woman again, it will still be too soon. I’d die a happy man if we could pretend she’s dead and gone. Happy ogre. Whatever.”
“Then you think we shouldn’t go see her?” Herne glanced over his shoulder at Viktor, looking ready to argue.
“Crap, I don’t know. She can probably help, especially given we have three of Kuveo’s tails in the bag, so it’s your call. You’re the boss.”