would survive the breaking of his bond to the Skir Master.
The monster carried them along a ridge of hills. It came to a small bluff, covered in trees, and jumped down to the ground a few yards below. They landed with a thump, and when the creature turned, Argoth saw why they’d come here.
Before them a cave opened into the rock. The monster repositioned them in its arms and strode into the darkness. It splashed through water, icy spray wetting Argoth’s exposed feet and face.
“We’re in a cave,” Argoth said to Legs.
“I know, Zu,” said Legs. “Please, unless you see something, it is important that I listen and smell.”
Argoth startled at the mild rebuke, but thought perhaps this is how the blind dealt with the unknowns in their world.
The monster climbed hill and valley, taking them ever deeper into the bowels of the rock. His tremors lessened. After some time, Argoth saw a bluish light up ahead. He mentioned this to Legs, who said, “I don’t know that I can keep the orientation points all in my head.”
Orientation points? Then he realized that the boy was keeping a map of sounds and smells in his mind. Argoth looked at him with new admiration.
As the monster jogged, the light grew stronger. Soon Argoth could make out the walls of the passage they were in. The monster took them past a chamber containing a large pool of black water, past pillars, past openings to other dark passageways. The light grew, they turned a corner, and Argoth found himself in the room that was the source of the light.
The light came from the dead body of a large, pallid beast with an eyeless head. There was no odor of rotten flesh, which meant it must have been recently killed. It lay on the far side of the chamber. It looked like a monstrous salamander, as long as a man, but with a stubby tail and the tusks of a boar. Two vertical cuts ran along its belly. The creature’s juices oozed out of the cuts, and when the separate juices ran together, the mixture shone with a white and bluish light. A bowl had been set on the floor beside the creature to capture the fluorescing liquid as it dripped from the creature’s side.
Argoth had seen creatures similar to this before. They were called night maws. But those were never longer than a man’s hand. And they were rare. That same light shone from two other bowls set in the room. It was not the blinding light of the sun, but an odd light that still left much of the room in shadow.
The monster released Argoth and Legs to stand.
“No,” a woman said.
The voice surprised him.
Argoth turned and saw figures chained at even intervals along the walls to his right: Hogan, the Creek Widow, Ke, River, Purity.
“No,” said the woman again. It was the Creek Widow, full of despair.
His heart sank. He’d hoped, at the very least, that Ke had escaped to call in the last two members of the Grove. But that would not be. There would be no muster.
Purity looked like the walking dead. Hogan did not look much better.
“Legs!” Purity said.
Argoth stepped toward Hogan, but the monster grabbed him by his injured arm and wrenched him to an open set of manacles. The pain shot up Argoth’s arm. He took in a sharp breath.
Legs carefully walked to his mother, hands out front.
The monster stood Argoth a few paces from River, manacled his ankles, then his wrists. It passed a chain through both to a stout ring in the wall. Then it bent two links of the iron with its bare hands to secure Argoth to the ring in the rock. It yanked on the chain to test its strength.
Then the creature gaped open its mouth and coughed. It coughed again and plucked something dark and wet off its tongue. The object writhed like a worm between the monster’s two rough fingers. It was as thick as a man’s thumb and maybe a foot long.
Argoth backed up against the rock wall.
The monster reached out, steadied Argoth’s head with its free hand, then held the wet worm close to Argoth’s throat.
Argoth felt a cold touch at the hollow of his throat. Then the creature slithered up and around and circled his neck.
The monster stepped back.
Argoth braced himself, but nothing happened.
The monster ran a finger along the creature, then turned and walked over to Legs. He plucked him up from his mother and