Page 178 of Quicksilver

“The path on the far left,” Fisher called.

“The oneright behind the fucking demon?”

“Just stay still and wait until I tell you to move,” Fisher said.

Lorreth adjusted his grip on Avisiéth, scanning all four corners of the enclosure. “How are we doing this?”

“Feed. I feed.”The demon didn't move its bristling mouth. The raspy words came from its throat somehow. It extended its front legs, prodding the air, looking for its prey.

Lorreth pulled a horrified face. “Urgh! Not on us, you're not!”

If we ever made it out of this, I was going to be traumatized for the rest of my life. Fisher had encountered this thing more than once. He'd faced it without knowing which path to take. Had itcaughthim? Had it...

No. Don’t think about that. Not now.

I exhaled, pulling myself together.

“Throw a rock and distract it or something,” Carrion said.

“That won't work. It's smarter than it looks. It can gauge the size of objects in motion. It can't differentiate between large objects that are close together, though. If we press back against the wall and move slowly, we can skirt around the perimeter of the enclosure and then make a run for it.”

“And where does that leave me?” Carrion asked.

“That leaves you sliding along the floor very slowly,” Fisher said. “Try not to lift your arms or legs too far from the ground. Get moving.”

Lorreth went first, creeping along the wall, his throat bobbing every other second. The demon cocked its head in twitchy movements, searching this way and that, trying to detect us, but Fisher was right—it didn't seem to be able to differentiate us from the walls of the labyrinth. Carrion swung his arms outfrom his body, pressing his palms into the ground, and managed to shunt himself forward. He didn't make much progress with each push, but it was better than nothing.

Lorreth reached the exit behind the demon first. From my position, flat against the wall, I watched him slump behind the wall, his shoulders sagging with relief. “Come on.” He motioned with his hands. “Let's get the hell out of here.”

I reached him next.

Fisher was only two feet from us, when the wall Lorreth and I were leaning against groaned, shuddered, and began to move.“Shit.”Fisher made eye contact with me and then swung around to look at Morthil. The spider demon slowly turned its head toward us, an eerie clicking sound coming from its hideous mouth. And Fisher whispered,“Move!”

The demon exploded into action. Its legs splayed, skittering on the obsidian as it charged across the enclosure. Fisher lunged for Carrion and grabbed him by the wrist, dragging him toward the exit. Lorreth was there in an instant. He fisted the front of Carrion's shirt and pulled him to his feet. But Morthil was already on us.

Fisher angled Solace and batted away one of the demon's legs. The blade cut clean through it and sent it sailing through the air. Morthil screamed—pain and fury blending together in an ear-splitting cry.

Carrion brought up Simon and parried forward, stabbing the demon in its swollen belly, which only enraged it further. It reared back and climbed the wall beside us, frantically thrusting with its curved stinger, seeking flesh. It found polished obsidian instead. Its stinger smashed into the wall with force, punching giant holes into the rock.

“Go!” Fisher yelled.“Go!”

We ran.

All four of us made it out of the enclosure, but Morthil followed us, scaling the walls, skittering behind us until it caught up.

“It isn't supposed to leave the enclosure!” Fisher shouted. The demon clambered up, using both walls on either side of us, and sprung forward so that its body was right over us.

“I FEED!” it roared. Its abdomen flexed and thrust down into the path between the walls, its stinger driving through the gap. I reacted on instinct, first darting back against the wall and then spinning my dagger over and plunging it down into the demon's abdomen. I had been aiming for its stinger, but the hit I landed was still decent. Fisher took advantage of the demon's howl of shock and lobbed off another of its legs.

Losing its traction on the right wall, Morthil fell back down into the narrow passageway and hit the ground with a thump, nearly crushing Lorreth beneath it. The warrior jumped back, raised Avisiéth, and drove the sword into the beast's grotesque mouth. He grunted, shoving his weight against the weapon's hilt, and the tip of the blade pushed out of the back of the demon's skull.

“Yes!” Carrion cried. “Is it dead?”

“Temporarily. It'll respawn soon. It'll come back smaller but also faster,” Fisher said.

“Then let's get the hell out of here before that happens.”

Fisher's hand in mine was reassuring, but he was no longer in the lead. I was. I could feel the quicksilver getting closer as we ran, but we had a problem.