“This doesn’t look good. Do you have any healing ointment? I’ve got bandages.”
“I don’t need it. I’ll heal soon enough.” He sighed, staring pensively at the stone. That’s unfortunate. I’m not sure how to remove it.”
“I don’t think I’m much help. Magic isn’t something I know anything about.”
“I’m trying to use my own magic to remove it, but I don’t have much energy left. What if I were to use its powers instead? Try to use its powers against it.”
“Can you do that?”
“I can try.”
He stood, shaking out his hands, then approached the stone once again. With a chanting of words, the purple glow shone on his robes, its magic wrapping around him. He touched the stone, then wrapped his fingers around it. When he picked it up and nothing happened, I finally let go of my pent-up breath.
“You did it.”
“Yes. Now we just have the chore of escaping with it.”
He placed the stone in his cloak’s pocket, then stepped away from the pedestal. The light went out, plunging us into complete darkness. The constant sounds of clanging machinery stopped abruptly. The silence pressed in, my ears ringing.
“Was that supposed to happen?”
“I guess that’s what happens when you cut the power.”
A blue light glowed, coming from Maveryck’s hands. His skin was already healing, pink flesh knitting back together, the burns disappearing completely. The light from his hands lit our path as we crossed back to the wall of pipes.
Climbing over had been hard enough. Doing it in the dark would be worse. But I refused to stay in this horrible place, so I grabbed onto one of the metal clasps and began my ascent. Maveryck climbed beside me, but his light didn’t reach far. When I’d reached the halfway point, the sound of shifting sand came from behind me.
Was the creature returning?
I didn’t glance back. I only kept climbing. The slithering came again, then disappeared. I got the feeling the beast was toying with us.
My arms cramped as I lifted onto the top of the pipe-wall. I only paused briefly, looking down at the sandy pit below. Not seeing movement, I swung my leg over and climbed down into the bowels of the machine.
The quiet unnerved me. Only the bobbing blue light of Maveryck’s magic lit the world around me—metal glinting, tubes and gears frozen in place, the walkway ahead that seemed to lead into a black abyss.
My own breathing sounded too loud. My fingers cramped as I held my knife. I couldn’t stop thinking about that creature we’d left behind. It would be back. I knew it would. Were we prepared to fight it?
“Maveryck,” I whispered. “Do you have enough magic to battle the beast if we see it again?”
His eyes looked dark under the glow of his magic. “If my answer is no, what then?”
“Then I’ve got my blade.” Which seemed so insignificant compared to a monster of that size. I wished I’d had my sword.
We trekked down the winding metal walkway until we made it away from the machine. The dark water of the lake spread out before us. We stood on the bank, the liquid unmoving. Its greasy scent filling the air.
I had no desire to step a toe, let alone submerge my entire body, in the water.
“We’ll have to swim for it,” Maveryck said.
“Do we have to?”
“If we don’t, then we’re stuck here.”
I grumbled as I removed my cloak, then started unbuckling my boots. Something rippled through the water. The beast’s roar broke through the silence as it rose up from the lake. Water poured from its lithe neck and reptilian head. Tentacles splashed.
“I changed my mind,” I said. “I’ve decided not to swim for it.”
“I agree.”
“I’m glad we agree on something.”
“Can you use your fire again?”
He breathed deeply, exhaustion etched in lines around his eyes. “Yes.”
Tentacles whipped around us. One hit me straight in the chest, knocking me back. I managed to grab the tentacle before it whipped away. Using all my energy, I buried my knife deep in its flesh. Its shriek pierced the air. After yanking my blade free, I got to my feet.
The monster’s face loomed closer, its fangs looming, yellow eyes burning with rage. Maveryck’s fire burst from his hands, blasting the creature’s head. Fire ignited, burning its scales. It thrashed violently and submerged, though dozens of tentacles reached for us. I severed one, then another. The ruined stumps fell to the ground.
Maveryck blasted the writhing appendages with his magic. Blue fire burned scorching hot, the heat brushing my face from where I stood.
The beast rose up again, half its face burned, revealing bone and muscle tissue. It snapped its massive jaws at my face. I jumped back, though its teeth scraped my calves. Stinging pain burned through my legs. Doing my best to ignore the pain, I grabbed my knife and rounded on the monster. Its face loomed. I stabbed my blade into its eye, hoping to puncture through to the brain.
Its head thrashed, knocking me backward so far my back collided with the machine’s metal wall. The breath escaped my lungs as I fell into a heap.
Pain tore through me. I couldn’t seem to pick myself up off the ground. All I could do was watch as the creature thrashed, the hilt of my blade poking from its eye socket, Maveryck’s fire blazing around its remaining appendages.
The monster finally collapsed with a gasp. The entirety of its body rose to the lake’s surface, long enough to stretch from one shore to the other.
Maveryck came to my side. A bruise formed on his cheek, blood smearing his neck and his tunic. He breathed heavily as he took my hands in his.
“Are you okay?”
I sat up, wincing at the pain in my legs. “I’m all right. I should be asking you the same thing. Is the beast dead?”
“It’s dead, and we won’t have to swim. We can use its body as a bridge.”
“That’s
