Sarah did not need to be told to run twice. She took off up the lava tube with Frostfire loping along beside, leaping and dodging the pieces of clinker left behind by some ancient flow as she went. It was hard going, but there was only one way to run and that was ever onwards and upwards. It ought to have been difficult to keep up with the Stoneskin, but Sarah’s Slayer powers had kicked in the moment she started running – it was second-nature to her now – and so she was able to match his stride with relative ease.
They had been running for about a minute before they heard the first sign of pursuit, a loud scraping sound as something sharp was dragged rapidly across the stone wall of the tube. It was a little like the sound of a knife being sharpened, only as if the knife were being sharpened constantly and just in one direction. It was both gravelly and shrill and it was getting louder.
Then came the low moaning sound again, building up the tunnel behind them like a storm wind and with it came a sudden, searing heat.
“It’s gaining on us,” she shouted, “how much longer is this lava tube?”
“Too long,” Frostfire admitted, but he didn’t stop running.
The sound of the creature behind them grew louder and louder as the air grew hotter and a vermillion light flickered up the walls beside them. Sarah was sure that whatever-it-was must be only inches back, now and that, at any moment, it would begin to devour them. She thought about her life ending this suddenly and a prayer came unbidden to her mind.
Lord God, she prayed, if this is to be the end, then please make it quick, make it painless, but if it’s not your will-
Frostfire grabbed her suddenly by the arm and yanked her sideways so that she lost her footing and was then dragged across the rock into momentary darkness.
“What are you-?” she began, but Frostfire clamped a clawed hand over her mouth and gestured back the way they had come. They were in a different lava tube from the one they had been ascending. This one was much narrower, such that the Spiketail had to stoop to avoid burning the ceiling with his eyes. In the main tube, the creature was still ascending, though not so close as Sarah had surmised. The flickering orange-red light continued to grow brighter, however, as did the creature’s mournful call. Surely, it couldn’t be that long before it was upon them.
“You need to stop burning Hypostatick energy,” Frostfire whispered and, sure enough, her skin was still giving off the faint green glow of her Slayer powers. Once she would have had little control over it, but now she could shut it off in the blink of an eye. The tunnel seemed to grow darker still.
Sarah looked around at their options. A little past where Frostfire was standing, the tube ended in a pile of rubble, so there was no escape that way, but it seemed that Frostfire wasn’t looking for a way out. He was standing still and silent beside her, still covering her mouth as if he feared she hadn’t got the point, whilst his eyes flickered towards the main tube and waited.
And then it came. It was like a passing underground train, rattling past faster and longer than Sarah had expected. She caught the merest glimpse of a huge, glowing, blade-toothed maw, then the long body propelled by many stumpy, legs, each viciously clawed. Its scaly skin scratched against the tunnel walls as it passed.
It was a long while after it had disappeared up the tunnel before Frostfire released his grip over Sarah’s mouth.
“That creature,” she began in a stilted whisper, “that skin – it was a Lithoderm!”
Frostfire nodded. “A type of Grinder, technically. At least, that’s how we believe they began.”
Sarah looked a question, but, as usual, Frostfire didn’t elaborate. Instead, he moved gingerly towards the junction with the main lava tube and began to descend the way they had come.
“But what if it comes back?” Sarah whispered urgently.
“We run, again. There’s nothing else to do. One does not fight Magmaworms.”
“Are there likely to be more of them between here and the magma chamber?”
“Almost certainly, but they have poor eyesight, so just stay quiet.”
Sarah nodded and swallowed hard. It was clearly going to be an interesting walk.
They made their way back down the lava tube as stealthily as they could, the way still lit by nothing more than Frostfire’s coldly glowing eyes. Sarah kept a close eye out for loose clinker on the tube’s floor and carefully stepped around any she found. She was not going to make the same mistake twice. They could still hear the Magmaworm which had passed them, scratching and moaning distantly above them.
Eventually, they reached the first junction again, the smell of sulphur suddenly strong once more. This time they began to make their way up the other tube, Sarah holding her nose against the egg-rotten air whilst Frostfire led the way. The air began to grow hot and Sarah felt drops of sweat beginning to form on her forehead, to drip down into her eyes.
After a while, there began to appear side-tunnels to left and right at irregular intervals. At first, Sarah thought that they were more lava tubes, but the angles didn’t seem like the natural tributaries of a lava flow and the edges of the tunnel had a different texture, like they were gouged out of the rock.
“Did the Magmaworms make these?” she whispered. Frostfire merely nodded, then pointed up the main tunnel once more. His message was clear: focus!
But it was difficult. With every step they took the evidence of the Magmaworms’ proximity seemed only to mount and mount: scratch marks, shed scales and more and more gnawed side-tunnels until they were traversing a veritable warren of them – until, indeed, there were more holes, it seemed, than rock to support them, which was when Sarah got her first good glimpse of one of the beasts.
They were traversing a section of the ‘tunnel’ which had opened out around them, both above and below, to reveal a river of magma beneath them and a series of narrow tracks upon which one of the creatures was perched as it gnawed at the rock-face before it. It was easily as long as two buses, its body an elongated teardrop from which sprouted numerous stubby little legs. Though it was partly turned away from her, she could see that the face was enormous and almost all of it was the mouth, edged with sharp, axe-head-like teeth. Three fire-lit orbs hovered above. It was easy to see the relationship to a Grinder, if hard to imagine how they might undergo such a metamorphosis.
Just as she was pondering this, she saw another of the massive creatures off to the other side, then another further ahead and, with a shudder of realisation as debris fell from the ceiling onto the path ahead of her, there were several clinging, upside down, far above her. Indeed, everywhere she looked now, there seemed to be more and more of them, gnawing away at the rock beneath the Stoneskin city and somehow, blessedly, ignorant of her and Frostfire’s passage through their midst.
This time it was Frostfire who ruined it. He was making his way, carefully, along the precipitous remnant of the lava tube, when he stepped on a weak section of rock which instantly fell through to send him plummeting towards the magma below. Only his quick reflexes allowed him to grab onto part of the path which hadn’t fallen through and haul himself back up to safety beside Sarah. It was a safety which was decidedly short-lived, however, as the noise of the breaking rock had disturbed the Magmaworm clinging to the ceiling above them. Now, it turned its massive head down towards them, its three burning eyes flaring noticeably as it detected whatever noise or movement it could and then, without any further warning, it let go of rock ceiling and, spinning it’s body in mid-air, landed with a crash onto the path in front of them, sending a shower of rock down into the magma and alerting all the other Magmaworms in the process.
“Oh hell!” Sarah said before she could prevent herself and then everything that followed happened on pure instinct.
Frostfire charged the Magmaworm in front of them, roaring loudly and leaping up over its gaping mouth at the last second. He landed on the creature’s back, causing it to buck and writhe in an attempt to dislodge him, at which point Sarah followed suit. She felt the Hypostatick energy of her Slayer powers rise to the surface as she ran and, instantly, the Magmaworm was focused on her, its eyes swivelling towards her as one. She knew it could see her very clearly now, but she didn’t care. As soon as it lunged for her, sending Frostfire rolling along its back, she jumped, soared high over its gnashing teeth and landed beside the Spiketail with enough grace to be able to bend down and pick him up before they both darted along the Magmaworm’s body.
It was difficult for the creature to turn around, so, once they touched down on the path again, they gained a good deal of ground before it was charging after them. Unfortunately, however, the Magmaworm was also a good deal faster than they were and it was not alone. Even as Sarah realised that the first ‘Worm was gaining ground on them from behind, Frostfire was calling out, “Look out!” as another rounded the path towards them.
There was another fragment of tunnel just beneath them, so Sarah did the only thing she could think of and leapt down onto it, hoping that Frostfire would do the same. She didn’t have time to find out, however, as, as soon as she had landed, she was faced with another dilemma. The tunnel of which the stone she had landed upon had been but a part, had long since been broken into a series of detached islands, each rising out of the lava on stalks of rock that looked as gnawed upon and stable as apple cores. She could feel her weight beginning to stress the rock beneath her feet and knew that she would have to leap to another island fast, but it was so hot and disorientating that she wasn’t sure which way to go.
Frostfire, it seemed, decided for her, as he landed beside her with a loud thump and the ledge on which they stood suddenly teetered in the direction of the added weight. Sarah grabbed hold of the Spiketail and they both jumped, aiming for the next island in that direction and hoping that they could make it. No sooner did their feet touch down, however, than they were forced to run and jump to another and another, as each ledge proved as unstable and perilous as the last.
And then, at last, with infinite relief, Sarah realised that she had landed in the mouth of another lava tube, this one intact and running away from the Magmaworm’s intense feeding ground. The creatures were hot in pursuit, however, with three of the beasts crawling along the rock wall towards the hole in which Sarah and Frostfire now stood.
“Run!” Frostfire commanded, “it’s not too far now! We might just make it!”
So Sarah ran and it felt like she was running faster than ever before, like the walls of the lava tube were slipping past her in a hypnotic blur. But, when she heard the low moan of one of the Magmaworms behind her and glanced over her shoulder she realised that they were still gaining ground, and a great, serrated, fire-filled void, endlessly hungry, was closing in on her. She dared not think what it would be like to be caught, or what those terrible axe-head teeth would feel like. She focused forward and she ran.
And then, suddenly, the tunnel ended and Sarah and Frostfire were balancing on the edge of the great magma chamber of Ashvault whilst the Magmaworm roared towards them and before them and above them – all about them – the chamber rang with the shouts, cries and clashing metals of war. There was no way forward and only death behind, so when Frostfire put an arm around Sarah’s waist and leapt into the super-heated air, Sarah simply closed her eyes and prayed,
My time has come, Lord. Make it swift…
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