Song of Dragons The Complete Trilogy - By Daniel Arenson Page 0,257

then the dust settled.

Lacrimosa released the boulder she'd been pulling.

"It was a trap," she said.

Kyrie was still tossing rocks aside. In the light of her torch, Lacrimosa saw that his eyes burned and his cheeks were red.

"Agnus Dei!" he shouted. "Do you hear me? Gloriae!"

Lacrimosa wanted to scream too, to attack the wreckage, to cry and shout. No. She steeled herself. She refused to panic. Stay calm. Think. If the twins are alive, I have to stay calm to save them.

"It was a trap," she said again. Her fingers trembled, but her voice was steady. "This was not the main entrance to the mine. It was built for us."

"What are you talking about?" Kyrie demanded. "Lacrimosa, come on, help me move these boulders. Hurry!"

She clutched his shoulders and forced him to stare at her. "Kyrie Eleison! Listen to me. Think. Dies Irae knew we'd come here. He knew we'd crawl down the shaft. He rigged the tunnel to collapse onto us. But he wouldn't destroy his only entrance to the mines, not if he wants more Animating Stones. There must be a back entrance somewhere. If the girls survived... if they're trapped somewhere down there... we have to find it. Now come, hurry! Back to the surface."

Kyrie's eyes blazed. He looked ready to argue. Then he squared his shoulders and nodded.

"Let's go."

They began climbing the ladder out of the collapsed mine. Scratches and bruises covered them, but Lacrimosa barely felt the pain. My daughters. A vision of them crushed and broken flashed through her mind. Lacrimosa tightened her jaw and banished it. Don't panic. Stay calm. Save them. There must be another entrance to the mine. There must be. If the girls are alive, I'll find them.

Soon she and Kyrie climbed back onto the crater.

Mimic dogs awaited them there.

The creatures howled and lunged at them.

They were stitched together from various dead animals. Their heads were canine, but some had the bodies of goats, and one had human arms instead of legs. One had the body of a flayed pony, and another had an arm for a tail. They all barked, drooled, and bared their teeth.

Lacrimosa swung Stella Lumen, slicing into them. Kyrie fought beside her. They swung their torches too, burning the creatures. The dogs swarmed and leaped, their eyes blazing in the night. Their fur burned, but they kept attacking. One bit Lacrimosa's arm, and she screamed and beat it off.

"Lacrimosa, look!" Kyrie said. "Between those burned trees. It looks like a path."

Lacrimosa torched another dog and stared. Yes. She had missed it earlier, but now, with the blazing dogs casting their light, she saw it. A rough path led from the crater between the burned trees.

"You think Irae made the path?" she shouted over the howling dogs.

"It might lead to another shaft. Let's go! This dog and pony show is getting boring anyway."

They began to run, slicing and burning their way between the throngs of mimic dogs. Her arm bled, and her head spun, but Lacrimosa forced herself to keep running. They raced out of the crater and onto the path, the dogs in hot pursuit. Burned branches snapped under her boots.

My daughters. Please, stars, please. Don't let me lose them like I lost my husband.

The dogs yapped behind her. As she ran, Lacrimosa nocked an arrow. She spun, knelt, and fired. A dog yelped and fell. She kept running.

"Damn it!" Kyrie shouted and skidded to a stop.

Lacrimosa fired her last arrow. Another dog fell. "What is it?"

"A hole in the ground. I nearly fell in."

Lacrimosa ran forward and held her torch over the ground. Hidden under charred logs, a shaft led underground.

"Climb down," she said. "I'll hold back the d—"

Before she could finish, three dogs leaped onto her. She beat one back with her torch. The other two knocked her down. They snapped their teeth, and Lacrimosa banged one's face with her sword's hilt. The other bit her arm before Kyrie stabbed it. A hundred more mimic dogs came running from the forest.

"Into the mine!" she shouted. "Hurry."

Kyrie nodded and climbed down. "Come on, after me."

Lacrimosa clubbed two dogs with her torch, then leaped into the shaft. A ladder led into the darkness, and she began scurrying down. The dogs surrounded the opening, barking, but dared not jump down.

"Think we'll find the girls down here?" Kyrie shouted below her. She could barely hear him over the howling dogs.

Lacrimosa closed her eyes as she climbed into darkness. Please, stars. Please. Don't take my daughters from me. Her fingers