Chương 9: Chapter 8

The high, shrill screeches came from deeper in the cave, where Shaya could just make out the form of a much smaller gryphon on the floor. An enormous, wolflike creature had it pinned to the floor with one huge paw, while liquid fire dripped from its maw and sizzled as it struck the stone floor beside the gryphlet. The monster was to wolves what they were to dogs—primal, untamed, and anathema to civilization. It was clear the Ur-Cinwolf could have killed the gryphlet, but it seemed intent on keeping it alive.

The reasons for why a corrupted beast would want to keep a powerful creature like a gryphon alive worried Shaya, but relief flooded her at the sight of the child still living and breathing.

"Gryphon ahead!" she shouted.

"Surrounded by more Cinwolves. Archers get ready to loose. Front-line, draw them to the tunnel entrance! An Ur-Cinwolf is holding a gryphlet at the back!" It's time to do or die, Shaya thought to herself, adrenaline hitting her system like a bolt of lightning. The squad slowed as they neared the full cavern, spacing out more to ensure everyone had room to fight and give ground as needed. At this distance, the heat within the cavern felt like a furnace and most of them were already damp with sweat.

The front four moved towards the wall, opening a lane of fire for the archers. They took no time in loosing two arrows into the nearest Cinwolf, which yelped in surprise and anger as it was punctured. Its stiff bristles and tough hide meant the arrows barely sunk into its legs, and it wheeled toward the group. It snapped off the arrow shafts with a quick bite and inhaled deeply, the inside of its throat glowing as it built up an inner fire. When it exhaled, a stream of flames blazed towards the group.

Krebo and Gazno closed ranks in front and braced, the fire spraying onto the wall of light around Krebo's pavise. The light flickered and warmed from gold to orange where the flames hit, but his ward held. Before the fire died down, two of the Cinwolves hurled themselves at the heavies, slamming into them and their shields. Feet dug into the ground, they held and shoved the Cinwolves back. Krebo's reflexes even allowed him to score a grazing blow against his attacker with his flanged mace.

The gryphon was illuminated with the squad's light now that they were at the end of the passage, its entire body covered in blood and gore. Based on the carnage they saw on the way here, Shaya had assumed most of it didn't belong to the gryphons, but from the way the last one standing limped, at least some of it had to be. It fought back against the remaining Cinwolves around it with renewed urgency, but its movements were slow and its swipes weak for a creature of its size.

Its rage let it ignore the injuries and keep fighting somewhat, but it had little life left to it. Shaya blanched at the extent of its injuries.

"We have to hurry!" Another pair of arrows soared past her, grazing off a Cinwolf dancing back from Krebo's mace. Another lunged at him, nipping at his heels, but he slammed the pavise onto its jaws and Gazno gutted the pinned Cinwolf with his crow-bill. Its packmates jumped at them, but Shaya and Pelark kept them back with overhead stabs of their polearms. Two fresh packmates cycled in, rushing towards the group to bowl their front-line over.

"Let one through!" Krebo stepped forward and slammed his shield into the one going for him, while Gazno deflected his opponent towards the centre gap. As the Cinwolf fell, jaws gnashing at them, Shaya and Pelark skewered it to the ground and Jax and Lorral punched arrows into its soft belly at point-blank range. Her fellow spearman planted a foot on the dead Cinwolf, letting Shaya and him pull their weapons out with sickening, sucking noises.

Then he cursed and glanced down at his leg, where the Cinwolf's bristles stuck through his pants like oversized nettles.

"Stings like a bitch," he muttered.

"Be careful of their fur!" The line stepped forward, starting to edge into the cavern. Shaya stabbed the gutted Cinwolf, putting it out of its misery, and smoothly withdrew her polearm from its skull. The pack's attacks slowed, the survivors taking careful lunges and nips at the front-line to slow their advance. Ahead, the enraged gryphon managed to catch one of its attackers, dragging it close enough to shred with its talons. Wet strips of flesh and gore flew through the air and splashed all around the cavern.

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"We've got this!" Shaya shouted, sweat beading her forehead from the cavern's unnatural heat.

"Pressure them! Keep advancing!"

"We can't! There's still too many, they'll encircle us if we push too far outside the narrow tunnel!" Krebo cautioned, swiping at another darting Cinwolf and missing.

"I know! But it'll take pressure off the gryphon and get it back into the fight. We don't have the magic to kill them in droves, we need to move faster!"

"If you'd only practice your Ruby magic—""Not now, Krebo!" Shaya snapped.

"More behind us!" Lorral cried.

"I'll hold them!" As the rest of the squad pushed into the cavern, Shaya moved past the archers, giving herself some space to give ground as three more Cinwolves ran towards them. One of them ran along the ceiling, rock crunching as its aberrant claws dug into it for support, and bounded toward them. The other two came at her across the ground, but one's chest expanded and their cheeks glowed from within.

"You've got to be kidding me," Shaya muttered, seeing them approach. She couldn't cast spells nearly as fast as Krebo—how was she going to defend against that blast? The Cinwolf's blaze intensified, closing fast to within a dozen feet. Shaya looked around her surroundings and thought fast. She took a step towards the Cinwolves, rolled her halberd in her hands, and swept it down.

The pick hooked deep into the corpse at her feet and with a roar she swung her polearm up, launching it towards the fire-breathing creature. The monster's eyes widened and it ducked its head to the side as the body smashing into its shoulder, sending both creatures sprawling to the floor. As it tumbled, fire sprayed from its mouth, coating the other two flankers and much of the tunnel in flame—but none reached Shaya. Unlike the smell of fresh blood and burning flesh and fur, which made her eyes go wide.

The two Cinwolves howled as their flesh was blackened, but still they continued toward her. They're not corrupted enough to be immune to their own flames or barbs.

"Dogged little bastards, aren't you?" Shaya braced for the charge and smiled as the archers groaned behind her. Ignoring the Cinwolf on the ceiling, Shaya watched the other rush her, moving more sinuously than any natural wolf could. Predicting that it would try to weave around her weapon's head, she pulled the polearm back and crouched, letting the snapping jaws get past it just as the monster wanted.

Before it could sink its teeth into her, she thrust the spear up and into the monster's soft underbelly, its flying weight dragging the weapon through its guts and spilling them on the ground. Claws scrabbled over stone as the Cinwolf above Shaya ran past her, her weapon too occupied to harry it. Two arrows punched into it, its predictable movements making it an easy target for Lorral and Jax.

It howled in pain and continued towards them, but at this range the archers didn't have to aim—in quick succession they nocked and unleashed two more arrows, then two more. Too injured to maintain its approach, the creature's claws lost their grip in the stone and it fell from the ceiling with a loud thud.

"I got it," Shaya said, freeing her weapon from the first Cinwolf and turning to the wounded creature as it rose on wobbly legs. Her hands shifted to the centre of her polearm, letting her swing it in close quarters at the cost of its reach. With a short lunge and a whirl, she slammed the halberd into the injured creature's head, splitting its skull and putting it out of its misery. With a loud twang, the archers loosed more arrows at the last Cinwolf behind them.

Shaya ripped her weapon from the skull of her latest victim and turned to see the last one picking up speed, half of its body and face covered in the stabbing bristles of the dead comrade she hurled into it. It snaked past one of the arrows and the second only grazed its tough hide. Before Shaya could switch her grip or brace for it, the Cinwolf lunged at her.

She managed to shove the haft of her polearm into the creature's slavering jaws as they snapped at her face, red froth splashing onto her along with the disgusting mixed scents of sulphur, blood, and rot. While its yellowed teeth gnashed at the sturdy wooden haft, its heavy claws mauled at her chest and legs. Light flared as its claws skidded off the magical plates that protected her, straining the spell.

She heard some of the magic crack like glass under its force and felt hooked claws slip past her armour, rend through her gambeson, and tear into her flesh.