less likely to pay any attention to us.”
Kung lizards of all sizes chirped and clicked to one another-mothers calling their young from the tunnels adjacent to the room. Then, unexpectedly, one of the large carnivores turned toward the cistern. Ethan tensed and grabbed Seth’s arm.
“What’s wrong, Ethan?” he whispered.
“One of them is coming over here.”
The pair backed up to the rear of the cistern. “Get below the surface,” Seth instructed.
They ducked down under the water. The cistern held a water depth of only four feet. Ethan opened his eyes, trying to see the lizard. He kept his blade pointed up toward the beast, just in case it spotted them.
The tip of the Kung lizard’s snout pushed through the surface of the water. The long tongue curled out, then pulled water like a scoop back into the reptiles mouth. It stood there drinking-the tongue loping through the water mere inches from Ethan and Seth.
Ethan noticed something clouding the water next to him. The lack of light made it incredibly difficult to see anything. Then he noticed the stump of lizard tongue still attached to Seth’s clothing. Blood from the severed appendage poured out into the water around them.
The lizard’s tongue picked up the scent in the water. It darted toward the source and found Seth hiding there beneath the surface of the water. Feeling the heat, the tongue attached and drew him out of the cistern by his leg.
Ethan shot out of the water after him. The tongue held Seth suspended upside down. He became disoriented-not quite sure which way was up. Ethan lunged at the beast. He leaped up with his sword and swiped the blade horizontally across the lizard’s throat. Blood poured out across the earthen floor. The beast released Seth. He tumbled back into the water, recovered and came up again with his blade ready.
“Ethan, what happened?”
“Let’s just say, we’re even. Now, let’s get out of here!”
Ethan helped him out of the cistern and Seth led him to the right corridor. “Bonifast is down this way.”
With another great reptile bleeding out on the chamber floor, they easily escaped the attention of the feeding frenzy. The Kung lizards remained in the chamber enjoying a sumptuous feast.
When Ethan and Seth reached the cell where Levi should have been waiting, they found shredded metal covered in blood. Ethan stared in disbelief while Seth felt the twisted edges of prison bars torn asunder.
“Tell me this wasn’t where you left him,” Ethan said.
Seth touched his fingers to the blood, then brought it to his nose. The pungent odor startled him, putting a smile on his face. “This isn’t the captain’s blood. The lizard that did this must have wounded itself on the torn metal.”
Just then, they heard a cry for help down the corridor. They ran toward the sound. Ethan noticed Seth breathing deliberately heavy breaths-using the echoes to guide his steps through the darkness.
Soon, they came to a wall. The stones had been thrust out into the corridor. “This must be where the lizards tunneled in. It smells awful.”
“I think the nest is here,” Seth said. “I’d imagine most of them are back there feeding near the cistern, but we’d better be careful.”
Another cry for help echoed from the hole in the wall.
“It’s definitely Levi,” Ethan said. “There’s at least one of them in there. We’re coming, Levi!”
Ethan ran through the hole in the wall with his sword pointed in front of him. Seth followed. The miniscule amount of light available in the dungeon became almost nothing inside the nest. Sounds of dirt shuffling around, heavy footfalls and the occasional ring of a sword hitting scaly flesh reverberated from multiple tunnels around them.
Ethan stopped at a junction. “Which way?”
Seth stepped up beside him and listened as the sounds came to them again. He darted to the left. “Come on.” Ethan hurried to keep up. Seth definitely had the advantage in this environment. As he ran, Ethan wondered why he still could not realm shift.
Seth stopped in front of him, causing Ethan to almost slam into his back. Seth listened again, then bolted to the right and down another earthen tunnel. They arrived inside a larger chamber with more tunnels leading away. Ethan began breathing through his mouth. “This place smells awful.”
Levi flew into the room from an overhead tunnel, then tumbled across a mound of dirt. A Kung Lizard followed on his heels. But when it entered the chamber and found three persons present, it stopped short, raised its head, and hissed menacingly. Ethan and Seth raised their weapons, ready to fight.
“Ugh! What in the world is this stuff!” Levi yelled from across the chamber.
The Kung whirled on him, searching for his prey again. Presently the lizard stood between Ethan, Seth and the captain. “Hey! Over here!” Ethan shouted as he tried to direct the lizard’s attention to him and Seth. The beast turned its head back to them. Apparently two tasty morsels were more interesting than one which had somehow landed in-
“Lizard Poo!” Levi exclaimed. “I’m ever falling into a pile of dung in this place!”
The Kung turned on him again.
“Captain, I would suggest you stay where you are and stop complaining to the lizard. It doesn’t like it,” Seth said.
But Levi grumbled still, trying unsuccessfully to extricate himself from the heap of lizard dung. The beast began to move toward him, though he was too busy to notice now. Ethan and Seth lunged for the lizard as it turned from them.
The Kung smashed them both with a swish of its great tail. They tumbled through the chamber, landing in a heap, their breath knock from them. Now, Levi noticed the big predator closing on him. He tried to locate his cutlass, but it had landed about ten feet away, barely visible in the darkness.
The Kung lizard hissed at Levi and sampled the air with its tongue. Time to eat.
Levi flailed his arms and legs, but the muck held him fast. The whip-like tongue lashed out and caught hold of Levi’s clothing. “Help me, lads! It’s got me!”
Ethan and Seth, hit with the tree like tail, had barely managed to recover enough to start breathing again. They groaned against the pain, trying to get to Levi before it was too late. The thick, sticky tongue pulled against the grip of the dung pile, trying to free the Kung’s meal.
Levi’s body shifted upward. “It’s pulling me out!” Then he realized the mound was shifting beneath him. A large nose poked through the muck between his feet as the tongue continued pulling. The dung heap exploded, sending Levi into the air free of the sticky tongue.
Something-a creature easily the size of a man-leaped from the pile of filth to attack the Kung lizard. The reptile reared back, then tried to lash at the new threat with its tail. The new creature, completely caked with dung, dodged the tail then slammed into the lizard. The beasts tumbled. The dung caked animal tore into the lizard’s neck with razor sharp teeth and claws. Blood flew everywhere.
The Kung lizard spasmed, then lay still with the dung-beast still crouching on its chest. Then it turned its attention on the humans. The beast stared at Ethan then leaped from the Kung lizard and began to come toward him. Ethan stood and prepared for a fight.
This beast may not have been as big as the Kung, but it had ferocity to make up for its smaller stature. The creature stopped short of Ethan and Seth, then shook its entire body. A wave rolled along its form, shaking lizard dung from a coat of thick brown fur.
The filth came free with surprising efficiency, leaving a sleek brown mammal standing on its haunches. “It’s a rat!” Ethan exclaimed.
Levi reacted first. He dove for his cutlass. “No, I’m not doing rats again.”
The brown rat watched him curiously as he picked up the weapon and began to approach. The animal turned back to Ethan watching him. Then it surprisingly bowed to him-at least that’s what it appeared to be doing.
“Stop, Levi,” Ethan said as he lowered his own sword. “Don’t hurt it.”
Levi stopped short, looking exasperated. “What do you mean, don’t hurt it? That thing’s liable to tear your throat out any moment!”
