Page 119 of City of Stone and Silence

I have no idea what he’s done to them, with his mastery of Eddica that’s centuries beyond mine. Killed their ghosts? Is that even possible? But all I can do for now is raise my blades and step forward.

“Go back to your cell quietly,” Prime says, “and I may let your friends downstairs live. Those of them that are left, of course.”

I move.

The corpses are strung out in a long line. Visually impressive, but tactically unsound. Especially against a Melos adept. With sufficient numbers, the things could get me off my feet, bury me in decaying flesh until my armor overloads. But they need to catch me first.

I hit the monster in the center of the line with both blades, spearing him through the chest, then bisecting his ragged, ancient body as I rip the weapons free. To his left, a woman with flyaway gray hair reaches for me with fingers weathered enough to show bone beneath the skin. I take her arm at the elbow with the first blow, and her head with the second. Behind her is another corpse, and then another, as I dance down the line. They collapse in my wake, puppets with strings cut.

I reach the wall, bounce off it with both hands to keep my momentum, and face the mob of monsters closing from the other side of the tunnel. Focusing my will, I shift my left-hand blade to a shield of green light, slamming it in the face of the first corpse to close and driving him back into the others. It pushes them off balance, a mass of windmilling limbs and clutching claws, and I spin around the outside, slashing indiscriminately. A few of them work their way free of the group, lunging for me, and I meet them shield-first in an explosion of scintillating green sparks. My blade takes their heads, or cuts their legs from under them and leaves them twitching on the stones.

In a few moments, nothing is left standing except for Prime’s mouthpiece. He regards me, still expressionless.

“You haven’t won,” he says. “You know very well this body isn’t me. Destroying it changes nothing.”

“I know,” I tell him, letting my shield lengthen back into a blade. He makes no move to defend himself as I bring both weapons around at the level of his ears, shearing his skull into several dusty, bloodless chunks. The body falls to the floor. “But you have to take your rotting satisfaction where you can get it.”

No sign of Hagan. No sign of Silvoa. Part of me still itches to turn back, return to Meroe’s side and help in the battle, but instead I push on into the darkness.

I’m close enough to the access point that I don’t need directions anymore. I can feel the flow of Eddica energy, running through the walls and the floor, all the far-flung lines of power converging. My shadow, thrown by the light of my blades, rears huge against the walls.

I hear the scrape of claws on stone. Lizard-birds, a pair of them, trying to flank me before closing. Prime’s attention is definitely on me, now, and I hope that means Meroe and the others are having an easier time. I watch the creatures tense as I step between them, and throw myself to one side a moment before they leap.

Four sets of talons hit the ground simultaneously, two man-sized lizard-birds twisting to keep me in view as they land in a spray of dust. I pop back to my feet, not waiting for them to recover. Forming my Melos shield again, I charge. The lizard-bird kicks, as expected, and its talon scrapes along my shield with a crackle. I let the impact throw me into a spin, bringing my blade around with heightened momentum, and the strike takes its other leg out at the knee. It collapses, writhing, even as its fellow bounds over it and comes down on top of me.

I try to roll with the fall, but the impact is still enough to make my armor flare, an uncomfortable wave of heat running over my skin. Wings flapping for balance, the creature rakes me across the stomach with one talon, drawing a wave of coruscating green fire. It’s hot enough to hurt, but I ignore it, reconfiguring my blade into the short, sharp spike I used to use hunting crabs. I can’t get much leverage pinned under the monster, but I don’t need much to punch the weapon into its breast. A moment later, I release the gathered power, like a spring uncoiling, and Melos energy surges through the thing with a vicious crackle. It collapses in a shuddering mess, feathers crisping and burning as energy sparks off of it. I shove it away from me and regain my feet, breathing hard.

The Eddica current is increasing. The access point can’t be far ahead, but I don’t know how many more monsters Prime has pulled in—

The ground shivers under my feet. A moment later, a faint shower of dust and mortar cascades down all around me.

Of course. I was wondering where that had gotten to.

The titanic lizard-bird stalks out of the shadows. It’s as big as I remember, big enough to swallow me in one bite. Or—as I recall Safiya’s death and taste bile—maybe two. Its talons are longer than my head. Its tail lashes back and forth as it comes on, its footsteps making the stone shudder around me.

“You caught me by surprise the first time,” I tell the creature. And Prime, if he’s listening. “But it’s going to take more than an overgrown chicken to stop me. I’ve killed uglier things than you.”

The monster opens its mouth wide in a soundless roar, then charges.

I let both my blades shift into shields, forming a single wide arc of green in front of me. At the same time, I scramble sideways, out of its direct path. Its jaws snap shut a foot to my side, but this time I don’t let my guard down too early. As before, the monster follows up its missed bite with a kick that would have left me impaled on its yard-long claws if not for my magical protection.

As it is, even with the shield between us, the impact picks me up and tosses me casually into the wall. Unlike the first time, though, the shield absorbs most of the blow, leaving me merely winded instead of half-cooked from the surge through my armor. There’s a crackle across my back as I hit the stone, another wave of heat. The lizard-bird turns with a predator’s grace, lunging forward to snap up its stunned prey.

I let it close, then push away from the wall, rolling forward. Its massive head rushes past above me, and it tries another kick, but I’m moving too fast. I’m underneath it, the huge pale belly bulging above me, gaps in the pebbled skin showing blackened muscles and shattered ribs thick with Prime’s Eddica magic. I shape my shields back into blades and bring them up in an X-shaped overhead slash, parting the tattered skin like moth-eaten cloth. A wave of dust and shriveled, decaying flesh cascades down, along with broken bits of bone.

The creature starts to turn, backing up so it can get ahold of me. Before it can, though, I jump, arms extended. I catch hold of the splintered end of a rib, and jackknife to swing myself up, feet punching through the opening I cut into the creature’s body. The thing is practically hollow, Prime’s magic preserving its bones and muscles but leaving the guts to slough away over the centuries. I roll over, bracing myself on opposing ribs, pushing through a few stringy bits of rotting flesh.

The monster doesn’t know what to make of me. It slams its bulk against the wall of the corridor, nearly tumbling me from my perch, then accelerates into a run and tries it again. I hang on, shifting to a more stable position with my legs wrapped around a rib. Summoning the Melos spike on my free hand, I let the energy flow into it, building up until I feel like my skin is about to catch fire. Then I swing out and jam the energy blade into the creature’s flesh from the inside, beside its spine, and let go.

Green energy lashes out, a wild, shimmering coruscation that crackles in all directions, searing ancient flesh to powder and snapping bones under the strain. The great lizard-bird bucks, then slews drunkenly to one side, its legs going out from under it. I lose my grip as it crashes to the ground, falling against another splintering rib. My armor flares and the world goes dark as broken bones and torn muscle cascade down on top of me. I ignite my blades and start hacking, blindly slashing the stuff, tunneling through the ancient monster’s body until I can see the darkness of the corridor ahead of me.

I emerge from somewhere in its midsection, ripping my way free like some horrible glowing parasite. The thing is on its side, legs scrabbling, trying to get up, a huge smoking hole blown in the middle of its back where my strike connected. I stumble along it, feeling the hot lines my armor is drawing under my skin, forcing the energy back into my hand for one more blow. The thing’s head stops its thrashing for a moment, and I dart forward.

I barely knew Safiya, in truth, but no one deserves to die like that, and even less so for simply taking their leader at her word. I don’t know if the revenge would have meant anything to her, but I mouth her name regardless as I bring my hand down. The spike goes in under the thing’s chin, and a moment later the discharge of Melos power blows its head completely apart, spraying bits of bone and desiccated brain against the wall, fangs pinwheeling away.

Bits of black goo drip from my hand as I straighten up, letting my armor dissipate. Cool air washes around me, but I can still feel the bone-deep ache of my exertions.

It’s time to finish this.