I laid a wall of sizzling flame around myself. The beast reared back onto its hind legs, its loud exhalations mixed with my own jagged breathing. But the cold stone floor put out the fire. If I didn’t wrest some control back from the wild fear, I would be dead.
I connected with the concentric rings of heat around my heart, pulling it forward into my hands, and sent a spiral of flame at the beast’s chest. The flame sizzled off bits of ice that clung to the animal’s fur. The beast kept coming. I threw a handful of fire at its face, catching it on the nose. It roared in pain and shook its massive head a few times before fixing its eyes on me again.
“You don’t want to eat me,” I said softly. “I would bubble and boil in your stomach and make you hurt. You don’t want me.”
It cocked its giant head.
“I’m a poor meal. All skin and bone. I would catch in your throat and choke you. I would burn your throat.”
It moved slowly now, stopping to listen every time I spoke. If I could just get it near its lair, maybe I could use my fire to drive it back and pull the gate closed. I walked toward the gate, talking the whole time, the beast slowly following me.
“Aw, this isn’t any fun,” said one of the guards.
“What do you think we should do?” said the other. “Throw water down on her?”
I kept my eyes on the beast, my heart pounding, and threw an arrow of fire upward at the grate.
The guard yelped. “Well, she doesn’t seem to want to play with us. We’d better let her get some rest. She’ll feel better in the morning. Good night, Firefilth.”
I heard something sliding as the room dimmed. The guard was covering the opening, my only source of light, with a board.
“No, please!” I screamed, all determination not to show weakness wiped away by dread.
A muffled laugh echoed as the board scraped into place. The room was black and silent but for the breathing of the beast in the dark.
My heart raced. My breath came in gasps. A scream built at the back of my throat. I jammed my fist against my mouth.
Stop. Think. Remember your training.
I took a breath and tried to find the quiet place in my mind. I calmed a little and remembered something that could help me: the beast was a thing of frost. I could sense its cold.
I’d spent hours practicing this while wearing a blindfold. And the beast wasn’t as silent as Arcus had been. I had two senses to help me.
The thing was sniffing the floor. I could hear its nose scraping the stone as it came closer. I sensed its frost, felt its cold breath on my face as it opened its mouth.
I dove out of the way, feeling it brush past me as I rolled on the floor and came to my feet. A draft brushed against my back. That must be the tunnel to the beast’s lair. I didn’t want to back myself in there. I moved away from it, my hands out.
Sniffing. Cold breath.
I threw myself to the right as a breeze from the leaping creature brushed past, my hand slapping the wall. Cold to my left. I moved along the wall to the right, sliding my hands along the stone. I paused, my senses on alert, and realized the sniffing had stopped. It was silent. The beast couldn’t be smart enough to realize I could hear it. Could it?
A rush of cold built in front of me. I threw myself to the side, but not fast enough. A blade-sharp claw sliced my leg, cleaving a gash into my calf. I sucked in a breath and kept scuttling to the right. The beast sniffed and roared, clearly excited by the smell of my blood.
I sensed it was a few feet away to my right, coming closer. I moved quietly, slowly, but it moved with me. I raged silently against the blood dripping from my calf. The beast could smell me now, no matter where I moved.
Arcus had told me to be aware of my surroundings, to use them to my advantage. Where were those blasted chains? Maybe I could use them as a weapon, catch the beast in the eye.
I moved along the wall, stopping when I came to the drafty tunnel. If I crossed that point when the creature came at me, I might be driven back into that hopeless space. I hovered, unsure what to do.
The cold came at me unbelievably fast. I had no time to do anything but curl into a ball as its teeth grazed my back and arms.
Without thinking, I pulled my arms free and threw fire behind me from my open palms and into the creature’s mouth.
Something sizzled and popped, liquid exploding around me like a burst bubble. Bones snapped and the body collapsed on me in a shocking flare of cold. I stayed still for a minute, dazed by the suddenness of the attack and the strength of my own inadvertent response. When my head cleared, I struggled out from under the dripping carcass, gasping as the freezing liquid soaked through my clothes and slid down my back.
“Get me out of here, you idiot guards,” I shouted, relief making me light-headed and a little giddy. “I killed your foul beast.”
The board scraped back, letting in a sliver of light.
“You’re still alive, Toothpick?” asked one of the guards, his voice high with disbelief.