Page 5

Neith

N othing is happening, and the timer is slowly ticking down. I can’t just stand here and wait, that’s a sure way to make sure that I fail. The disembodied voice didn’t tell me what would happen if I failed, but I’m guessing that it wouldn’t be something good.

With this in mind, I take a step forward. I almost roll my eyes at the predictability when the room starts to shake and shudder, of course, that wouldn’t be the smartest thing to do right now when I need to pay attention to my surroundings.

I sprint to the edge of the room, my fingers gripping the stones that jut out from the wall, and my feet balancing on the small ledge that stays still while the rest of the floor disappears, and leaves behind a mass of swirling black nothingness.

I have no idea what it is, but I get the distinct feeling that it’s hungry.

Really fucking hungry.

Which makes sense because it probably doesn’t get fed as regularly now that the Choosing isn’t happening several times a year.

I glance along the wall that I’m clinging so precariously to, and see that the ledge that I’m on is not a continuous thing that leads all the way to the open door on the other side.

Of course it isn’t.

Instead, there are big chunks that are missing, and honestly, I’m unsure how the hell I’m supposed to get over to the door. My first priority is moving, and then I can think about how I’m going to get over the gaps when I get there.

I carefully make my way across the wall, relying mostly on the handholds that do at least seem to be along the whole width of the wall.

When I get to the first gap, I figure that the only way that I’m going to be able to continue is to use the handholds to get me across the gap.

I just hope that the handholds aren’t going to crumble like the tiny ledge.

I don’t give myself any time to think about it.

If I do, I’m going to falter and freak myself out, so instead, I simply swing myself out over the gap and hope that I have enough upper body strength to make it across the gap.

I have a feeling that dying by being eaten alive by whatever the thing below me is wouldn’t be pleasant.

Mind you, when is being eaten ever pleasant?

I smirk as I reach for the next handhold. Well, I can think of one instance, actually.

The image of Coen’s head buried in my pussy flashes through my mind and I barely resist the urge to cross my legs as my clit pulses.

Now is not the time.

Forcing myself to refocus, I swing across until my feet hit a firm or semi-firm ledge.

The edge of it begins to crumble, but I quickly move so that I’m no longer perched on the very edge and further along where it’s a bit more solid, and thankfully, it holds.

My arms are already starting to ache, and I’m only halfway across the room, and the only reason why I’m halfway across is because I had the forethought to run at an angle toward the wall.

The timer is still in my periphery, slowly ticking away, and quite honestly, I feel like this has already taken far longer than it should have.

The thing is that I can’t move any faster.

In this situation, it would be impossible to move any faster than I already am, and because of this, progress is slow, as I make my way closer and closer to the door.

I’m probably two-thirds across and tasting victory when an inky black tentacle shoots from the depths below and smashes into the wall right in front of me. My fingers dig into the wall, and I feel one of my nails snap as I try not to fall off.

The pain of a snapped fingernail is nothing compared to the pain that awaits me if I fall into the pit below.

I wait for a moment as the tentacle disappears back into the gloom beneath me, and when it doesn’t immediately strike out again, I cautiously start to move forward.

As soon as I get close to the gap again, the tentacle whips out, and I once again find myself clinging on for dear life.

This time it doesn’t disappear into the depths, and I watch as it slowly pulls back, gearing up for another attack.

I move as quickly as I can backward, instinctively knowing that it’s going to strike where I am, and I only just manage to get out of the way in time to miss the strike.

It keeps doing it, and I end up near where I started.

How the hell am I going to get to the door now?

Not only have I now made no progress at all, but many of the ledges or even the handholds that were there have been destroyed by the tentacle slamming into the wall.

I’m stuck where I am, and if I don’t come up with a solution soon, then I’m going to end up failing this trial and being eaten by the thing beneath me.

The tentacle starts to gear up, pulling backward again, and I see it, the blue dot with a smaller silver dot inside.

I don’t believe it.

I fucking read about this creature in the book last night when I couldn’t get to sleep. They’re guards, and they require payment for passing or they eat you.

What the fuck did it require for payment? I ask myself, I know it wasn’t blood, because I remember thinking how strange it was that it wasn’t blood, because everything wants blood as payment.

That’s it!

I call Asael to me, and squish myself against the wall, holding Asael awkwardly and somewhat precariously in my hands while still holding on to the wall.

“Alright, Az. I’m going to need you to be super sharp, but not cut me. I need you to cut my hair,” I explain, and he buzzes.

I flick my braid over my shoulder and then put my face against the wall, using my thumb to hold the end of it tightly.

I awkwardly move my head to slice some of it off.

I only need a few strands. Asael cuts through my hair with ease, and I soon have a small clump in my hand.

It’s probably more than I need but I’m not about to get fucking picky with it, I don’t have the fucking time.

I make Asael disappear again so that I can grip the wall properly, and then once I have ensured that I have a strong enough grip with one of my hands, I let go with the other and launch the hair at the tentacle thing.

The writhing pauses, the motion of the tentacle that was starting to come toward me stops, and I hold my breath.

There’s a weird, almost purr that freaks me out more than a growl would, and then just as suddenly as the floor disappeared, it’s back, and looking like nothing happened to it.

Even the walls where the tentacle hit are back to normal.

I don’t waste any time, and keeping my hand on the wall just in case the floor decides to give way again, I run as fast as I can to the door.

Standing on the threshold, I see that beyond the door appears to be a roughly hewn tunnel, clearly part of a cave system.

I call Asael back to me in his two-sword form and then step through the door.

Immediately, I am engulfed in darkness, and even when I turn around, I can’t see any light.

I walk a few steps backward, and I’m unsurprised when I meet a solid wall with absolutely no door in sight, or rather, feel.

I can’t see anything. I am in complete darkness.

Being surrounded by darkness isn’t a new thing for me, after all, I go to the Darkness Friend, but whereas that feels comforting, this darkness does not.

It feels threatening.

The voices are muttering in warning, and I know that I am not alone in these tunnels, I can feel it. I can sense the others who are here with me, and I also sense that they are a threat to me.

How the hell am I supposed to get to the door through this maze of tunnels? When I glanced through the door, I saw the offshoots, so I know that it’s not a singular tunnel, but then again, that would be pretty easy to deduce anyway, because that would be far too easy.

My tracking gift.

If I can get the map up in my mind like it usually appears, and ask it to stay there, so I don’t give away the unusual gift, then I should be able to follow it out of here.

It has worked the last couple of times that I have called on it, and I am really hoping that it’s going to work this time as well.

I need to be really careful, though. I want to keep as much as I can to myself and therefore remain uninteresting, so I am really hoping that it’s going to cooperate and only show up in my head.

I have learned that it’s far safer that way.

Of course, there isn’t another way that I can think of to get out of here quickly, or even just to escape, so that I don’t end up dying down in these tunnels and being eaten by whatever it is that stalks them.

There’s a skittering sound to my left, and I know that I need to move asap, I do not want to find out what is making that sound, especially since it sounds suspiciously bug-like.

Yuk. I am not good with bugs.

Calling on my magic, I tell it what I want it to do, and I am so incredibly grateful that it does exactly what I’ve asked, and that the tracking gift that was once incredibly unreliable has now come when I have asked it to once again.

The mental map shows a warren of caves, and it appears to stretch for miles.

The good news is that it appears that while the route to the caves is complicated, it’s not very long, and my map is lighting it up clearly.

The bad news is that I can assume that the route is short because the danger is very real.

“Duck,” the voices warn.