‘What’s it doing?’ Samuel asked and Master Glim nearly leapt out of his skin in fright.
‘Don’t do that, Samuel!’ the old teacher hissed, shaking his head. ‘You scared me half to death! It’s dropping the bodies down the well.’
‘A meal for later,’ Lomar added.
‘Where are the others?’ Goodfellow asked.
‘They’re trapped in another building,’ Master Glim replied. ‘I think that Eric is there, with Orrell and the last of his men.’
‘I have an idea,’ Samuel said.
‘What is it?’ Lomar asked, not taking his eyes off the door, lest the creature should come leaping through it.
‘Our spells don’t seem to affect that thing, but it’s still made of flesh and blood-of sorts. We know that by hitting it with something heavy enough, we can stun it, so if we can drop something even bigger on it, we may be able to kill it.’
‘That’s a logical assumption,’ Goodfellow stated. ‘But how can we get it to stand still while we push the walls in on it? It’s as quick as a fox.’
‘We need bait. I’ll go out and attract its attention while you all get everything you can and drop on it.’
‘And what about you, Samuel?’ Master Glim asked. ‘How will you stop it from tearing you apart and how will you not be crushed?’
‘I’ll form a spell shield. Everyone who’s been grabbed has been too terrified to protect themselves. If I make a strong enough shield, I can keep it at bay for long enough and the same shield will protect me from being crushed, as long as you dig me out as fast as you can afterwards. I should be safe.’
‘That’s ridiculous, Samuel,’ Master Glim said.
‘What else are we going to do? We can leap from the walls, but I’d bet that thing would catch us before we hit the ground. If we stay here, it will eventually come and find us when it’s hungry.’
‘True,’ Master Glim concurred. ‘Lomar, what do you think?’
‘It sounds difficult, but if we could get that thing to stay still long enough, I believe we can kill it. Samuel’s plan sounds fair.’
Samuel nodded back at Lomar in agreement. ‘Very well. Are you ready?’ The others nodded. Master Glim did not look pleased and Samuel did not think he had ever seen Goodfellow looking so doubtful. ‘Just don’t forget to tell Eric. We’ll need everyone to crush that thing and then get me out from underneath as quickly as you can.’
Samuel walked into the square. The creature was there, slowly dragging a couple of Orrell’s men towards the well without any hint of the vigour it had shown when killing them-there were few other bodies left. Samuel spied Orrell, peeking down from inside the half-demolished building. Samuel waved to him and Orrell returned a questioning glance.
As the creature’s head appeared back atop the well, it saw Samuel approaching and a groan echoed up from its ever-hungry belly. It proceeded to clamber out, never taking its wide eyes off him. Behind him, Samuel could sense the others moving into position. Hopefully, Goodfellow had gone in to tell Eric what to do.
‘Hello, monster,’ Samuel said as calmly as he could manage. The creature squatted upon its perch on the well and watched him approach. Samuel could feel his friends beginning to spell. He could see the walls and roofs around beginning to tremble and loosen. Loud cracks and bangs sounded as their spells began to do their work. He hoped they made a good job of it. He did not want to die for nothing.
He prepared his own spells, forming a firm barrier in the air before him, filling the spell with sand and grit, so it was not formed of mere magic alone. The creature took one tentative step down towards him, fixing him with its shiny gaze. There was a loud crack behind and Samuel winced. He turned and saw a portion of wall dislodge itself from the kitchen building and begin to rise into the air, but when he turned back, the monster was looming above him expectantly with its hundred-toothed grin.
Samuel squealed with uncontrolled fright and the creature lashed out with one pasty, white arm towards him. He threw his feet out and dropped onto the ground as its blood-stained fingers flew by his face. He remembered his shield and reformed the spell around him as quickly as he could.
The creature tilted its head and took a sideways step, as if examining him. It seemed to be able to feel his spell in place, for it did not attack immediately as he expected. It half circled him and stooped its head to examine closely. Samuel trembled and concentrated with all his might on maintaining his spell, for its breath was foul and acrid. He suddenly felt frail and weak beneath the awful thing’s unblinking gaze and he could feel his power waning. Putting its arm forward, the creature pushed its palm flat against Samuel’s shield, but it could not touch him through the spell, fortified as it was with tiny, earthen fragments. Then, the thing began to push harder and Samuel began to slide backwards on his backside, pushed within his own spell. Its hand began to come closer and so Samuel concentrated on his spell, pushing all his will into keeping the creature at bay. It continued to push him until his back was hard up against the well and then Samuel realised his mistake. The creature kept pushing, and, with nowhere to go, its grasping hand came ever closer towards his face. The stones at his back began to crack and fall away into the well shaft and still the creature pushed its claw in towards him. The air itself began to press on Samuel’s shoulders, making him feel as if he was already being buried in stone. Samuel pushed everything he could into his spell and the creature’s hand was inches from his cheek, when a voice called out from afar.
He did not know whose voice it was, but immediately after he heard it, it seemed the sky fell down. A great slab of stone shattered upon the monster’s head and rained pieces of rubble all around. Samuel’s shield was battered and he felt his body tremble with each blow. Huge lengths of stone and wood began pelting down upon him, shaking his bones and deafening his ears. With dread, he realised his shielding spell was terribly underprepared to match such weight.
Samuel looked up to see another greater mass of stone, an entire length of wall carried by the spells of Master Glim and Lomar, looming above him. The creature spied it too and forced itself to stand up with a guttural snarl from its throat, shaking the broken rubble from its shoulders. Just then, the spells carrying the great length of wall vanished, and Samuel threw himself backwards into the well as cracking thunder struck around him.
The earth shook with a deafening roar as Samuel plummeted into the darkness. Stones and dust were in his throat and eyes as he fell. He just realised he should try to slow his descent with a spell, when he slammed into shallow water and then felt rubble and ruins tumble atop of him, striking his back and head and pushing him further under water. His hands found earth underneath and he pushed his head up and into the air and took a great breath. Dust filled his lungs and set him into a choking fit as he put his sleeve over his face to filter the air. He readied himself to be buried alive, as more pebbles and stones continued to fall; but instead of smothering him, the rain of asphyxiating fragments gradually subsided. When the shaking had eventually come to a stop, Samuel found himself in utter darkness.
He stood, feeling water up to his knees, but he could see nothing. The air was full of dust and Samuel gagged and coughed until he pulled his shirt up over his mouth. After a few moments, he gathered his wits and strained to look above for some hint of sunlight or some sound of rescue, but the well was deep and his ears still rang from all the noise of just before. He summoned a mage-light and it burst into life beside him, illuminating the bottom of the well with its bluish hue. Far above, he could see that the shaft was blocked and ruined, and dust and rubble continued to drop down on him. Samuel did not like to assume the stone would stay there, precariously balanced as it was. He thought it best if he moved rather quickly before his luck ran any lower.
An underground tunnel was visible in the gloom, leading away in opposite directions. He would have to find somewhere safe to stay until his friends dug him out. This was not quite what he had in mind when he had made his plan, but he was alive and it would have to do for now. His friends would find him eventually. It just might take them some time to move the masses of earth that lay above-assuming the creature was, indeed, dead.
To stay here was quite unsafe, so Samuel regarded his two choices of direction thoughtfully. The beast had dragged the bodies somewhere, so he knew that there was a fair amount of space down here-enough to store those men at least. Samuel then had a dreadful thought that had him looking over his shoulder into the dark corners-he hoped there was only
CHAPTER TWELVE
