He’slearning to control the blodbad within, Cyrus thought.
Fibian turned in their direction. His eyes lit their surroundings. Two wendigopounced out of the darkness and dove at Cyrus. Fibianleaped over and, with two coordinated blows, lopped off both of their heads.
“Master Cyrus,we must find a way out.”
“Over there,”Edward shouted, crawling onto Cyrus’ shoulder.
The spiderpointed to several beams of light peeking through gaps in the rock.
“You mustdig,” Fibian said, “Tier and I will cover yourflank.”
Fibian delved back into darkness. Cyrus crawled blindly towards thesmall streams of light and began to move stones. The sound of creaturesscrapping and seething were growing nearer. Cyrus fought the instinct to panic.
“Master Cyrus,look out!”
Cyrus feltsteely grips grasp his shoulders. He elbowed at the darkness. Teeth clenched athis neck. Cyrus palmed a bony face, crushing a nose on impact. The grip loosened.He felt sand rain down his back.
“Thank theAngels, Edward.”
“Just keepdigging,” Edward growled.
Cyrus heavedstones as fast as he could. His skin goose-pimpled as he waited for the nextsavage to strike. Rocks began to slide, bruising his toes and snagging hisgloved fingers. He peered over his shoulder. Fibian’stwo eyes darted about like fireflies.
“We’re gettingclose,” Edward said.
The shafts oflight began to grow larger. Tier hollered out in pain.
“Tier?” Cyruscried.
“Keepdigging!” Fibian demanded.
Cyrus heardfootsteps scramble towards him. He turned but found only darkness. A crossbowsnapped. A body crashed to the floor at his feet.
“You mustdig!” Fibian demanded.
Cyrus pulledat rock until his fingers bled. He began to see gray skies and snowy hills beyondthe stone barrier.
“We’re almostthrough,” he called back.
“Make sure theopening is big enough for Madam Tier,” Fibian said, “Thenclimb through.”
Anotherrockslide gave way, splashing gray light over the threshold. Cyrus scrambled freefrom the slide, twisting his right ankle on the uneven ground.
“Angels!”
Behind him, Fibian used his mechanical hand to drag Tier towards the newlyexposed exit.
“Run,” heyelled, slaying three wendigo with one sword stroke.
Cyrus searchedfor his crossbow. It was lost in the rockslide. He placed Edward in his jacketand climbed free of the volcano.
“Fibian, hurry,” he called back, hopping on his left leg.
The froskman appeared at the opening, Tier in tow. The yeti wasunconscious, her head bloodied. From the darkness within, her lifeless body wasjerked backward.
“No,” Edwardshouted.
Cyrus reachedin and grabbed Fibian by the coat. The froskman dropped his sword and held onto Tier with bothhands. Tier began to rouse. Cyrus and Fibian draggedher into the light, along with the faces of several silently screaming whitewendigo. Again, the wendigo yanked Tier backward. Tier’s head seemed to clear.She began to kick free. Several more horrified faces appeared out of the murk.Cyrus pulled as hard as he could manage. The yeti would not budge.
“I am losingmy grip,” Fibian said.
Cyrus couldfeel himself and Fibian begin to give ground. Theywere being pulled back into the cave.
“No,” Edward screamed.
The sound ofseveral bows thrummed from over their shoulders. Oily black arrows buriedthemselves in the faces of many of the wendigo. Grips loosened. Cyrus and Fibian gained the upper hand and pulled Tier free of the mountain.All four crashed to the ground at the foot of the rock slide.
“Who goesthere?” demanded a high-pitched voice, the words warbled around the edges.
Cyrus froze,his skin flushed and sweaty beneath the furs.
“Water klops…” Edward whispered.
Chapter 22
OUT OF THE FUNERAL AND INTO THE PYRE
A BLACK NET CRASHED over the group. Cyrustried to escape. He became caught up in the sharp mesh. He slipped in the snowand twisted his ankle further.
“An escaped yeto with a pair of cave weirds?”
Cyrus lookedup. He saw a fat klops, wearing a steel helmet,staring down at him. He kicked and tore at the netting.
“Stay calm,young Master,” Fibian whispered.
Another creatureloped up the snowy hill, his crossbow trained on the group. The villain wasabout five feet tall. His legs were like narrow tree limbs and his chest was encasedin armor too large for his frame.
“They’rewearing clothing,” he said, confused.
Cyrus lookedaround. There were six klops in total. Two had bowsand four had crossbows. All weapons were aimed at the group. All were chargedwith poison dipped projectiles.
Cyrus lookedto Tier. The yeti seemed weak and confused.
The gills inthe pudgy klop’s neck flared.
“The caveweirds better not be getting any smarter.”
“You fool,”spat the skinny klops, “If it was two of their like,they’d be dead already. Look around you, daylight.”
“Maybe that’s whatthe clothing’s for,” retorted the fat scoundrel.
“Chain ‘em up,” ordered the skinny klops.
“We’ve onlyshackles for the yeto,” the fat one said, “The othertwo are too small.”
“Whatever theyis, I say we kill ‘em all,” said a third, his nosecrooked and bandaged in bloody cloth.
All six klops focused their aim.
“Wait aminute,” Cyrus shouted.
“It talks?” thefat one asked, its lips chapped and cracked.
“Aaah!”
The klops furthest from Cyrus grasped his neck. The other fivelooked back, their weapons still trained on the trespassers. The villain pulledhis hand away and stared at a snow-white spider, hissing in his palm. Then thefiend dissolved into a mound of sand.
“What in thedeep?” the skinny klops asked, his aim drooping.
Tier eruptedlike a bear from her den. She ripped the netting from overtop of the group andbarreled into the first two klops. Their arrows spatoff in random directions.
Fibian charged the next two. The klops fired theirarrows at the froskman. Fibiancaught the first with his good hand and took the second on his mechanical arm.He stabbed the first klops through the eye-slit ofits steel helmet and clubbed the second with his wood and metal forearm.
Cyrus pickedup a rock and took cover behind Fibian. His ankle wasswollen and hot in his boot. The remaining klops ranoff down the hill.
“It’s going towarn others,” Edward cried.
Cyrus scoopedup a bow and arrow and remembered Fibian’s training.He lined his target up with the arrow shaft and pulled the nock to the cornerof his mouth. He exhaled and let go. The arrow buried itself in the klops’ calf. The fiend tripped to the ground and began tocrawl down the ravine. Then he rolled to his back and started to claw at histhroat, before moving no more.
“Filthy poisonedarrows,” Tier spat, rising to her feet, “Got what it deserved.
“Your rifle?”Edward asked, crawling across Cyrus’ back.
“Lost in thecave,” Tier said, feeling her forehead.
The flow
