“No!” Cyrusshouted.
The wendigo raiseda fist to strike. Its whole body twitched and froze. Its face fell slack. Itlooked down at its left hand. The thing’s flesh grew purple and blistered, thenbegan to decay into sand. The savage dissolved in Cyrus’ grip. Cyrus quicklydug through the silt and found a snow-white ball.
“Thank you,Edward,” Cyrus gasped.
Edward smiledback, breathing heavily. His fangs retreated back into his gums.
Cyrus lookedup. Tier was locked in battle with four wendigo. Fibianfought two. Both wielded torches at their attackers.
One leaped ontoFibian’s back. The creature bit the froskman’s neck. Fibian stabbed thetorch into the savage’s face. The wendigo still held on. Fibiandropped the fire and slammed his back into a wall. The villain’s grip loosened.Fibian snapped his mechanical hand around hisattacker’s neck and threw the savage off. The fiend struck the ground,scrambled like a wild cat, and sprinted back towards the froskman.Fibian took three large steps, grabbed the back ofthe creature’s head and drove his right knee into the wendigo’s chin. Thevillain collapsed to the ground like a sack of bones.
Fibian’s second attacker was holding his torch, blinded by its light.
“It’s tryingto steal the flame,” Edward shouted, from Cyrus’ shoulder.
Confused, thecreature shifted on its toes, unsure where to turn. Then, in a desperateattempt to escape, the savage dashed clean over the edge. The torchlightilluminated the contours of the massive shaft as the wendigo plummeted far, farbelow.
“No…” Cyrusbreathed.
Tier’s attackersclung to her back. One had one arm around her neck, and one hand on her torch.Tier twisted and punched, teetering at the edge of the chasm.
“They’re goingafter our last torch,” the yeti growled, punching the wendigo in the face.
“Cyrus,”Edward shouted, gesturing in Tier’s direction.
Cyrus pickedEdward off his shoulder and threw him at Tier. He lost sight of the spider inthe twisting thrashing of limbs and fur.
One wendigojerked the torch from Tier’s grip. Fibian dove andtackled both Tier and the four wendigo to the ground, clutching for the fire.The wendigo with the torch kicked and scrambled like a wet cat. It broke freeand ran for the ledge. Tier grabbed its ankle while fighting off the otherthree. The first wendigo kicked and flailed, blinded by the torch.
“I’m losing mygrip!” Tier said.
The wendigowriggled free and sprang for the void. Mid-air, it twitched and paused. Then itcrashed to the ground in a splash of sand. The torch fell atop the pile. Edwardcrawled from beneath.
Fibian broke the neck of one of the remaining three. Cyrus stabbed a bolt intoanother’s skull, and Tier hurled the last one into the river like a sack ofrubbish. She caught her breath and stared at Edward with narrow, probing eyes.
“Thank the Angels,Edward,” Cyrus said, picking up the spider and Tier’s torch, “If we lost this,we’d be finished.”
“It was asuicide mission,” Fibian said, touching the bite onhis neck,” They wanted our fire so they could take us in the dark.”
“What shouldwe do about that one?” Cyrus asked, motioning towards an unconscious wendigolaying on the ground.
“Toss itover,” Tier said.
“It’sunconscious,” Cyrus replied, “It doesn’t seem right.”
“The fallshould wake it up,” Tier said, grasping it by the ankle and hurling it over theedge.
Chapter 20
ALL BECAME DARK
THE FOURSOME CARRIED ON across the narrowbridge-way. Tier kept the lead. Fibian held up therear. Unless they could find Grim, they would be forced to rely on Edward’s senseof direction to guide them through the caverns to the yeti slave camp.
The groupentered a darkened tunnel and began to walk carefully down the twistingcorridor. They held their weapons and torches high. Cyrus could smell Grim’s stench.
“No!”
Tier’s footinggave way. She began to slide on her backside down the passage. Cyrus jumpedafter her and caught her by the wrist. The ground had been covered in aslippery sludge. The two started to accelerate. Cyrus felt Fibianclutch his ankle. In a train of three, the group slid down the coilingpassageway. Cyrus’ body bounced off stone walls, further bruising his flesh.
“Watch out,”Edward shouted, from Cyrus’ shoulder.
The spiderpointed ahead to a pit in the floor. Cyrus tried to reach out with his free handto slow their descent. The rock was too smooth.
“Braceyourself,” Tier yelled.
The groupslipped over the edge into a dark cavity. Cyrus’ mind froze with panic as heplummeted to his death.
The fallseemed to last minutes. Cyrus struck the ground, but to his surprise, his bonesdid not shatter on cold stone. Instead, he landed on something that felt liketwigs.
“Master Cyrus,Master Edward, are you all right?” Fibian asked.
The froskman stood crouched, his eyes ablaze.
“I’m okay,”Edward whispered.
“Me too,”Cyrus said, feeling for injuries, “Where are we?”
“I think welanded on the troll,” Tier replied.
The yeti hadrolled off the mound and was surveying their surroundings.
“Those thingsmust have set him a trap.”
Cyrus and Fibian dismounted what could only be Grim’sbelly. They began to look about the cave. The group had fallen into anotherpassageway. The walls were blackened and tempered.
“They fixedwooden stakes into the ground,” Cyrus said, peering beneath the troll.
A bed ofspikes had pierced the giant on impact. Lucky for the group, none had passedthrough Grim’s thick body.
“They will becoming soon to claim their catch,” Fibian said,collecting his weapon, “We must find a way out of here, quick.”
The troll haddied wide-eyed, his tongue flopping out the side of his mouth.
“We’re justgoing to leave him like this?” Cyrus asked, “Shouldn’t we do something?”
“What, likeburry him?” Tier said, disgust in her voice, “Your weak heart’s going to getsomeone killed one of these days,” she added, searching for a way out.
“This way,”Edward said, pointing from Cyrus’ shoulder, down a tunnel to his right.
***
THE GROUP TRAVELED for what seemed likedays, the lack of sunlight confusing their internal clocks. They had not seenany sign of wendigo since Grim’s death. Cyrus did notknow whether to be concerned or relieved. Would
