Burn Bright - By Marianne de Pierres Page 0,72

Eve.

The Leaguers ran towards them, two abreast, staying just inside the confines of the narrow path. As they reached Eve and Joel, a freakishly long arm and claw snaked out of the dark and began to drag Cloffie, the leader of the column, from the light. Naif saw the peculiar coils along its muscle and the thick veins pulsating with blood.

Other Leaguers fell upon it, hacking and slashing, but the claw seemed impervious to the blows.

‘Clash!’ cried Eve.

Joel advanced on the Night Creature, his sword swinging.

The Leaguers retreated as Joel moved in, bringing the sword down with a two-handed chop. He pulled his sword free and swung again, his face so savage, so intense that Naif barely recognised him. She saw her father, though, in the cold fury. This time, his blow severed the claw from the arm and blood sprayed free.

As Joel reached down for the fallen Leaguer the howling intensified and all lights on the path to Danskoi extinguished.

‘Get inside the cathedral,’ roared Eve above the din. She threw a flare onto the path in front of them and Night Creatures fled its fluorescence. ‘Run!’ she yelled. ‘Run!’

Naif scrambled higher, alongside the Leaguers, losing Joel then glimpsing him again with Charlonge. Markes was next to her for a moment also, forging ahead up the last steep distance to the cathedral.

A small group of Leaguers was already clustered at the door under lantern light. Two of them worked at prying it open while the others watched for attacks.

Eve let go another flare as the larger group converged on the smaller, and everyone milled around the entrance.

‘Report!’ shouted Eve.

‘Wood’s too thick to axe,’ shouted back the boy who was bent over the lock with only a makeshift hammer and lever.

Naif recognised the voice and pushed her way closer to see him. ‘Rollo!’ she cried.

He glanced up at her for a moment, his expression surprised and relieved, then returned to gouging the lock.

‘Way!’ The Leaguers parted, letting Eve through to the door. She knelt down next to Rollo. ‘Get it open,’ she ordered with quiet imperative. ‘My last flare’s gone. We can’t keep them back.’

Rollo nodded and kept working the huge lock furiously with lengths of twisted metal. Sweat beaded his face, stuck his hair to his head.

Eve pulled her sledgehammer from its sling and walked back to the fringe of the lantern light. The Leaguers closed behind her into a tight, defensive semicircle. The flare light had all but gone. ‘Clash!’ she bellowed.

Naif pushed past the Leaguers to see Joel join Eve, sword already drawn.

It was just like the first time she’d seen then together behind the club. Only this time their backs were to an unrelenting stone wall and a locked door, and the paths no longer offered escape.

They raised their weapons as the flare finally died and the light shrank back to a tiny pool that barely covered the group. They began to fight the Night Creatures, side by side, with support from the semicircle of Leaguers; swords and batons meeting tentacles and claws.

Lenoir! Help us! Naif concentrated as hard as she could, summoning the sense of bond between her and the Riper. But nothing told her he felt her fear, her need.

‘It’s loose,’ shouted Rollo. ‘Just … a … little … long … er.’

Longer! We need longer!

On impulse Naif ran out to join Joel and Eve, pulling up just short of the reach of their hammer and sword.

‘LEYSTE!’ she screamed into the dark. ‘LEYSTE!’

The howling assault stilled as if the Night Creatures had one listening mind.

With her heart beating in painful thumps, Naif stepped out in front of Joel and Eve.

‘I’m the one Leyste stalked. What do you want?’ she called into the night. ‘Why are you all here?’

‘Ret,’ whispered Joel. ‘Get back –’

‘Hush,’ she told him softly. ‘Rollo is nearly inside …’

The Night Creatures began to hiss but Naif waved her arms. ‘I know you can understand me. I-I’m sorry for Leyste but he’d been following me. Lenoir says it is forbidden for you to do that. Leyste turned off the lights on the path so I would get lost. That is not allowed either.’

The hiss grew until it sounded as though a huge pit of snakes lay before her. She had drawn their attention and they were coming for her now.

‘Get back,’ she told Joel and Eve. ‘Get away from me.’ She was going to die here. Even Lenoir couldn’t save her this time.

‘Look,’ shouted Eve. ‘Beyond! Lights.’

Torches had appeared on the rough line of