The creature lurked in the shadows. Flashes of light revealed only a vague silhouette of its bulk.
With a twist and a pull, moving his hands like a magician performing a parlor trick with handkerchiefs and coins, Bern turned his cane into a wicked-looking lance with an elaborate, hooked and spiked blade.
“Are you daft, Bern?” said Lille. “We’re not fighting this beast. We have two … no, three … rank novices with us and no Astrid.”
“Just in case, dear. Doesn’t hurt to be prepared.”
“Fight what?” said Isobel. “What is it?” said Isobel. “What’s down there?”
“Your worst nightmare,” said Karla.
“Sounds like … an elephant,” said Jeff.
“Smells like a dead cat,” said Isobel, wrinkling her nose.
The bulk shifted and caught a bit of the glow from the tunnel walls. Its knobby hide glistened, and riddled with scars and sores.
“What’s it doing, hanging back like that?” said Bern. “That’s not typical Reaper behavior.”
“It’s probably confused,” said Lille. “How often does one of these encounter a group of free souls? They’re used to having us packaged up neatly in pods.”
“Are you saying it’s afraid of us?” I said.
“What a poor baby,” said Karla. “Come. Let us pass through the wall before it finds its courage.”
She flattened her hand into a blade and knifed it between the strands forming the tunnel wall. The roots resisted fiercely, shoving her hand back out.
“Here, let me try.” I grabbed a fistful of roots and squeezed, picturing crackers crumbling. But instead, they stiffened up and refused to yield. Wiry bits poked out and punctured my palm.
“Ow! What the fuck?”
“It’s the Reaper,” said Bern. “I’ve seen this happen. The tunnels and beasts, they work together sometime. It’s some kind of symbiosis … or maybe even different parts of the same organism.”
“Or maybe the roots want the damned things fed and back to their den,” said Lille. “Minimize the battering.”
A pale, frost-like patina spread out from the patch as the hardening and condensing propagated down the length of the tunnel.
“Oh Lord! But I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Bern. “We’re trapped in this tunnel.”
“This is not just any Reaper,” said Lille. “This is a Mother.”
“I bet its range is limited,” said Karla. “Lille, take Jeff and Isobel up the tunnel. Keep going until you find a place to break through the wall. James and I will hold the beast back.”
“Say what?” I said, startled. I was ready to run.
“It is the only way,” said Karla. “If we all leave together, it will follow, and seal the tunnel wherever we go.”
“Oh for Heaven’s Sake,” said the freckled lady, stepping forward. “Do you all need a human sacrifice? Because I volunteer.”
“Kind of you, ma’am,” said Bern. “But to it you’re just a snack. I doubt you would even slow the creature down.”
Karla tore a root from Isobel’s pod and fashioned it into a long bow. She broke off strands and formed arrows, feathering the tail and pinching the other into sharp, barbed points.
