them quickly past, down a slide to the streambed that had gone
almost dry.
A new horror lumbered out of the mist, a being vaguely
manlike, but with multiple limbs and a face that seemed all jaws
and teeth. Stresa curled into a ball, quills jutting out in every
direction, and the monster lurched past without slowing. Wren
swung her sword defensively and jumped aside, barely avoiding
a clutch of anxious fingers. Garth stood his ground and let the
thing come to him, then cut at it so fast Wren could barely
follow the movement of his blade. Blood flew from the beast,
but it barely slowed. Grunting, it reached for Garth. The giant
Rover leapt back and aside, then came at it again. Wren attacked
from the rear, but one monstrous arm swung about and sent her
flying. She kept her grip on the sword, rose, and saw the thing
almost on top of her. Garth swept under it in a rush, caught her
up and yanked her away. They were running again, flying along
the glistening black rock, the crunch of it sharp beneath their
boots. Garth slowed without stopping and swung her down. Her
feet struck and instantly she was running with him. She saw
Stresa ahead, somehow back in the lead. She heard the growling
and huffing of the creature behind.
Then something exploded out of the shadows on her left
and struck at her. Pain rushed along her arm, and she saw blood
stain her sleeve. There was a tearing of teeth and claws. She
screamed and pushed at whatever was clinging to her. It was
too close for her to use her sword. Garth materialized out of
nowhere, grasping her attacker with his bare hands and tearing
it free. She saw its ugly, twisted face and gnarled body as it
dropped. With a howl, she swung at it with her sword, and it
flew apart.
“Grrrlll!” Stresa was next to them. “We have to hide! Sssttt!
They are too many!”
Behind, too close to consider, the monster tracking them
gave a triumphant roar. They fled from it again, back into the
mist, through the tangle of shadows and half-light, stumbling
and clawing their way across the rock. Wren was bleeding heav-
ily. She could see blood on Garth as well, but wasn’t sure if it
was his or her own. Her mouth was dry and her chest burned
as she gulped in air. Her strength was beginning to fail.
They topped a rise and suddenly Stresa, still leading, tum-
bled abruptly from view. Hurrying to where he had fallen, they
found him sprawled awkwardly at the bottom of a short drop.
“Here! A hiding place!” he called out suddenly, spitting and
hissing as he regained his feet.
They scrambled down the open side of the drop-the other
was a mass of boulders-and saw where he was looking. Beneath
an overhang was a split in the rock leading back into darkness.
“Sssstttppp! Inside, quickly. Go, it’s safe enough!” the Splin-
terscat urged. When they failed to respond, he rushed at them
threateningly. “Hide! I’ll lead the thing away and come back for
you! Hrrgggll! Go! Now!”
He whirled about and disappeared. Garth hesitated only a
moment, then plunged into the cleft. Wren was a step behind.
They brought up their hands awkwardly as the darkness closed
about, groping to find their way. The split opened back into
the lava for some distance, burrowing down into the earth.
When they were inside far enough that they could barely see
the light from without, they crouched down to wait.
Seconds later they heard the sounds of their pursuer. The
monster approached without slowing and lumbered past. The
sounds faded.
Wren reached for Garth and squeezed his arm. Her eyes
were beginning to adjust, and she could just barely make him
out in the dark. She sheathed her short sword, removed her
leather jacket, and tore away the sleeve of her tunic. She could
see the dark streaks of the claw marks down her arm. She med-
icated the wounds with a healing salve and bound them with
the last clean scarf she carried. The stinging disappeared after a