Chapter 97: Clash of Monsters

The Manager looked at him. "What could control an entire wave?"

"Something they’re more afraid of than they are hungry."

Mara followed his gaze toward the western passage. "The Seventh Rank."

The leopard-like Abomination had fit poorly inside the tunnel where they first encountered it, yet it had moved with enough precision to follow them without scraping the walls. It possessed the intelligence to create false trails, conceal its approach and herd Reapers into the cavern without killing them.

If the surrounding tunnels belonged to it, the creatures above might recognize the territory.

Mara looked toward the damaged Beacon. "Why would it protect us from them?"

Rook glanced at her. "There is no reason to assume it’s protecting us."

"It trapped everyone in a functioning Bastion and won’t allow other Abominations to enter. That sounds uncomfortably close."

"It also won’t let anyone leave."

The Manager’s attention shifted toward the homes sheltering the wandering souls. "A shepherd protects livestock."

Several people in the square heard her.

The comparison moved among them faster than the earlier announcement. Reapers adjusted their grips upon their weapons and looked toward the tunnel mouths, as though expecting the Seventh Rank to emerge the moment its purpose had been spoken aloud.

Mara remembered her own question inside the Manager’s office.

Is it feeding something?

Perhaps the wave was not coming to the Seventy-Second because the creature trapping them did not want its collection disturbed. That did nothing to explain why so many Abominations were heading toward the Forty-Second at once.

"Waves don’t form without a reason, do they?" Mara asked.

"They can," Frederick said. "Territory shifts. A powerful Abomination drives weaker ones ahead of it. Sometimes a Beacon fails and every creature kept outside its light moves into the same region."

"The Forty-Second’s Beacon was functioning when we left," the Manager said.

Rook looked toward Vanessa. "Is something following the wave?"

She searched again. Her head slowly turned east, tracing the road behind the moving mass.

"I can’t tell. There are too many. Their memories are spreading across everything."

"Anything ahead of them?"

Vanessa’s head turned west.

Her lips parted slightly.

Rook noticed. "What?"

She did not answer.

Her shoulders had become rigid. The remaining color drained from her eyes, leaving them white once more. Unlike the violence of her earlier search, her head no longer moved. She stared toward a point high above the southern section of the cavern.

Frederick lowered himself beside her. "Vanessa?"

She recoiled from the ground.

Her body struck his chest hard enough to force both of them backward. Frederick caught her injured arm before she could fall, and Vanessa clawed at his armor with her other hand.

"It saw me."

Every Reaper within hearing distance raised a weapon.

The Manager turned toward the tunnel entrances. "The wave?"

"No." Vanessa struggled to regain her breath. "Something else."

Rook moved in front of her. "Where?"

"Above us. Farther east."

"How strong?"

"I don’t know."

Vanessa’s eyes returned to normal, revealing fear that had not been there even when she detected the wave.

"It’s close to the one outside."

"The Seventh Rank?"

"Close. Maybe the same Rank."

The defensive lines around the square began to shift. Officers shouted orders toward the rooftops, and ranged weapons turned away from the tunnels toward the cavern ceiling.

Mara stared upward. The damaged Beacon illuminated an immense surface of uneven stone. Stalactites hung above the settlement, some large enough to crush entire buildings if they fell. Nothing moved between them.

"What is it doing?" Rook asked.

Vanessa pressed her bleeding palm against the ground again and immediately winced.

"It left the road."

"Toward the Forty-Second?"

"No. It’s coming here."

A distant vibration passed through the cavern.

Dust slipped from the roofs.

The Manager looked toward the southern wall. "How long?"

Vanessa followed the presence through the stone. "A few minutes. Two or three, perhaps."

Rook unhooked the chains around his coffin.

"Clear the square," he ordered. "Move everyone beneath cover and keep them away from the Beacon."

The Manager turned toward the officers. "You heard him. Defensive units hold their positions. Everyone else inside."

Commands spread through the streets. Reapers climbed down from exposed roofs, while those carrying shields formed lines around the central buildings. The wandering souls already sheltering inside began shouting as more people forced their way through the entrances.

Rook lowered the coffin onto the ground.

Mara stayed close as he opened its upper compartments. "What weapon works against something close to the Seventh Rank?"

"Let’s hope these would."

He removed two thunder charges, checked their fuses and placed them inside his coat. His hand moved toward a heavy cleaver before Vanessa released a sharp gasp behind them.

"Not minutes."

Rook looked over his shoulder.

Vanessa had both hands against the ground. Her face tightened as though the stone itself had struck her.

"How long?"

She stared upward.

"Ten seconds."

The first impact sounded beyond the cavern ceiling.

A deep rupture rolled through the settlement. Buildings shuddered, and several Reapers lost their footing. Dust burst from the southern wall in a broad grey cloud.

The second impact came closer.

A fracture raced across the ceiling, passing above the Beacon and splitting around one of the hanging stone formations. The pale light caught the crack as it widened.

"Move!" Rook shouted.

He seized Mara by the back of her coat and dragged her away from the center of the square.

The ceiling exploded.

Stone fragments poured into the Bastion. Several struck roofs and passed through them, crushing the floors beneath. A stalactite tore loose and impaled an empty street. The impact split the road from one side to the other and threw nearby Reapers against the buildings.

Something enormous descended with the debris.

It struck a row of houses near the southern edge of the settlement.

Three buildings disappeared beneath its body. Walls burst outward, roofs folded and a cloud of pulverized stone rolled through the streets. The shock travelled across the square and struck the base of the Beacon hard enough to make its pale light flicker.

For one breath, Mara saw nothing through the dust.

Then the creature rose.

Its body was long and covered in overlapping plates of pale flesh, each one stretched tightly over a framework of black bone. Six limbs unfolded beneath it. The front pair ended in broad hands, their fingers fused into hooked wedges capable of splitting stone. The four rear limbs were thinner and jointed backward, allowing the creature to lift most of its body above the ruined houses.

Its head had no visible eyes.

A vertical opening divided its face from crown to throat. Rows of narrow teeth moved within the split, folding over one another as the creature tasted the air.

Fragments of the Hollow Road remained lodged throughout its back.

The Abomination turned toward Vanessa.

Recognition passed through the entire body. Its plates lifted one after another, exposing bands of pulsing darkness beneath them.

Then the Beacon brightened.

The creature’s head snapped toward the tower. Whatever interest Vanessa had awakened vanished. It lowered its body and drove all six limbs into the ground.

Rook saw the movement first. "It wants the Beacon!"

The Abomination launched itself across the settlement.

It crossed several streets in a single bound, crushing barricades and throwing Reapers aside without slowing. Its split mouth opened wider as it approached the tower, revealing a second set of jaws buried deep within its throat.

The Manager slammed both hands against the ground.

A wall of stone rose between the creature and the Beacon. The Abomination struck it head-on. Cracks spread through the barrier immediately, and its hooked hands punched through, tearing away pieces large enough to crush houses.

The wall would not hold.

Rook pulled Mara behind the coffin and reached for a thunder charge.

A growl rolled through the cavern.

It came from the western side of the settlement.

The sound was lower than Vanessa’s scream, yet every Abomination-sensitive instrument hanging from the Reapers’ armor broke at once. Glass vials cracked. Metal needles spun inside their housings. Several lantern flames collapsed into their reservoirs.

The pale creature stopped tearing through the wall.

Its head twisted toward the sound.

A black shape emerged from between the buildings.

The Seventh Rank had entered the Bastion without using any of the tunnels.

Its enormous feline body passed through the cavern wall as though the stone had briefly forgotten how to resist it. Dark fur caught the Beacon light without reflecting any of it. The creature lowered its shoulders, muscles shifting beneath a body large enough to fill the street.

The pale Abomination opened its divided face and screamed.

The Seventh Rank leapt.

It struck the intruder above the broken wall.

The collision threw both creatures across the square. They crashed through the upper half of a building and rolled into the street beyond, ripping stone apart beneath their bodies. The pale creature drove two hooked limbs into the Seventh Rank’s side. Black flesh opened around them, but the feline Abomination caught its attacker by the throat and closed its jaws.

The sound of breaking plates echoed through the cavern.

The pale creature twisted, tearing itself free at the cost of half its neck. Dark memories poured from the wound in place of blood, forming faces that screamed before being dragged back beneath its flesh.

It brought one of its broad hands down upon the Seventh Rank’s skull.

The street collapsed.

Both Abominations disappeared into the dust and broken stone below.

Every Reaper around the Beacon stood frozen.

They had prepared to defend the Bastion from something hidden inside it. They had armed the roofs, sealed the tunnels and gathered hundreds of weapons beneath the light.

None of those preparations seemed to matter now.

A black paw burst from the collapsed street and seized the pale creature’s face. The Seventh Rank dragged it back into view, and the two monsters struck the base of the cavern wall with enough force to split it from floor to ceiling.

Rook slowly lowered the thunder charge.

Mara looked at him. "What in Yama’s Name is going on?"

"I don’t know."

Rook watched the Seventh Rank drive its claws beneath the other Abomination’s plates while the pale creature wrapped four limbs around its body and pulled in opposite directions.

For the first time since Mara had met him, uncertainty remained openly upon his face.

"Stay out of their way."