Rorra, struggling to support his weight, gasped, “No.”
There was no time to argue. Moon grabbed her shoulders and shoved out of her grip. The waterling yanked him down straight toward its mouth, its distended jaw opening wide, fangs gleaming. Moon flung his weight sideways and grabbed the clawed limb at the joint, then twisted it down. He fell and hung upside down, supported only by the creature’s abused joint. The waterling screamed as its joint popped out and Moon slammed into the wall, dangerously close to the creature’s lower limbs. He jerked free of the slack claw and scrabbled away along the wall.
More waterlings scrambled up the wall toward him and he climbed rapidly up past the screaming injured one. It flailed at him with its remaining claw then abruptly fell backward and down the shaft. Moon looked up and saw Jade on the wall just above where the creature had been, snarling in fury.
“Go, I’m coming,” Moon yelled and climbed faster. Then Rorra dropped down and this time Moon let her grab him. As they lifted up, Jade turned and climbed toward the opening.
Jade reached the edge and pulled herself inside. Rorra lifted up even with it, and Jade caught Moon’s arm and dragged him in. As Rorra caught the edge to pull herself after him, a waterling rose up behind her and claws snatched at her waist.
Moon and Jade were off-balance, in the wrong position, and even as Moon tried to lunge for Rorra, he knew neither of them would be able to reach her. Then Stone stepped on him, flattened him to the floor, and leaned out the opening. He reached past Rorra, seized the creature’s head, and twisted sharply. The audible snap echoed off the walls and the creature dropped, lifeless. Stone snatched Rorra out of its grip, Jade grabbed Stone around the waist, and they all tumbled forward into the passage on top of Moon.
Smushed on the bottom, Moon couldn’t do anything but hold his breath as the weight was lifted. When Jade climbed off him, he gasped to fill his empty lungs and staggered to his feet. Chime grabbed his arm and pulled him down the passage. Jade was hissing, “Go, go, move, hurry!”
Moon followed the others down the dark passage. Beside him, Rorra muttered, “I didn’t know Stone could do that. Not as he is, I mean. Not large.”
“That’s why we try not to argue with him,” Chime told her, breathless with nerves.
Behind them, Stone snorted derisively.
Moon said to Rorra, “He’s got really good hearing, too.”
Light bloomed ahead as Song and Briar dug their lights out of their packs again. They were in a passage larger than the one below, and the others made way for Jade as she moved forward to lead them. Root glanced back, whispering, “That wasn’t fair! We did everything right, nobody made any noise, and they know we’re here anyway.”
“This place is awful,” Bramble agreed.
“Keep moving,” Moon urged them. Behind them, he could hear a sliding, scraping movement growing louder, closer. They’re following us.
Something had woken the waterlings, but Moon would swear they hadn’t made enough noise to wake a sleeping fledgling. Maybe the waterlings had felt faint vibrations through the rock. Or maybe they were sensitive to Rorra’s distinctive scent and interpreted it as an attack.
Jade led them past several dark doorways, then the corridor suddenly opened up into a large chamber and the welcome sight of an open stairwell leading down. Jade said, “We need to keep going, I don’t want to risk this one.”
“You don’t think we came far enough from the trap in the hall below,” Delin clarified, breathing hard as he jogged after Bramble. “That we might enter it again if we go down now.”
Rorra directed her distance-light across the space and they saw it was only the first of several large chambers. “She’s right, we should keep going, there are more stairwells ahead.”
“Faster,” Stone said. “They’re not far behind us.” Then he shifted.
Rorra used her pack to lift up and shoot forward to scoop up Delin. The warriors and Bramble started to bound, covering ten to twelve paces in a single jump, and Stone was careful not to outpace them. The combination of stronger flying muscles and fear could have let Moon outpace all of them but he stayed in the rear, making sure the rest didn’t fall behind. He was sure Jade would have objected to this but fortunately she was a little too busy at the moment.
They crossed two large halls, their lights revealing half-seen carvings and shapes. In the second, Bramble yelped a warning and they slid to a halt. Rorra’s light swung around to catch a giant face looming from the end of the hall, but it was made of stone. “Statue,” Jade said. “Keep moving!”
They surged forward again and Moon was left with an impression of a smooth triangular head, no visible nose, with small eyes to either side. It might have been a sculpture of a builder, or maybe just something from a story. And now he could hear the rasp of claws on the stone floor, the swift slide of heavy bodies. “They’re in the first hall,” he said aloud. They could hide the lights, look for a doorway to another route, but the chances of being trapped in one of these dead-end passages or rooms was far too great.
Ahead, Jade reached the next stairwell. She called out, “Down, down this way! It’s got to be far enough.”
Moon threw a glance back and saw roiling movement in the shadows. It had to be far enough, because the waterlings moved too fast. With Delin still holding onto her, Rorra dropped down. Bramble, Chime, and Root dove after her. Jade motioned for Song and Briar to follow. From below, Bramble called, “Stone, the stairs turn down here and it’s too narrow for you!”
Stone snarled, and shifted to his groundling form, saying, “This shitting place!”
Jade caught Moon’s arm and half-shoved him down the stairs. She grabbed Stone and jumped after him.
Moon hit the first landing in a crouch, waited for Jade, then dove down the next set of stairs with her. The lights flashed sporadically as the Raksura jumped and dove and scrambled and jumped again. Rorra’s distance-light was mostly steady, Delin directing it toward the stairs so they at least had some idea where they were going. This would be a bad time for someone to run into a wall and stun themselves.
Moon heard the rush of movement above them, the scaled bodies slapping into the walls, claws scraping as the waterlings flowed down the stairwell like water. An acrid stench of rot and fish filled the air.
Below, Bramble took a tumble down the stairs but rolled to her feet at the bottom and kept going. The waterlings were gaining on them. We’re going to have to stop and fight to give the warriors a chance, Moon thought, then Rorra shouted, “Light ahead! Someone’s down there!”
I hope it’s someone we know. Moon hit two more landings, as ahead Song missed and catapulted herself shoulder-first into the stairs. Root stopped and half-started back. Briar yelled, “Keep going!” and scooped Song up and jumped down to the next landing.
Two more landings and there was just enough light for Moon to glimpse a familiar scaled face looking up at them from the bottom of the stairwell. That was Balm, he thought. He wondered if he was hallucinating. How did they find us? And it really didn’t matter, because even if River and Merit were with her, three more Raksura weren’t going to be much help against what was after them. Beside him, Jade gasped, “No, no, not them too—”
Rorra and Bramble yelled warnings, and Balm’s voice echoed up, “Come on, it’s all right, just hurry!”
Maybe they had a plan. Moon hit the next landing with Jade and said, “Just trust her!”
Stone gritted out, “Listen to him.”