“No idea,” she replied. “But if there’s anything I’ve learned on this planet, it’s that when a Deep Sky – or Sea Sand or Bitter Sea – warrior tells you to move, you fucking move.”
The brolka continued screeching louder and louder, the ominous wail of an alarm. Linnet came barreling out of her cave, an arrow already notched against her bow.
“What is it?” she shouted at Arton, who was currently directing Zaria to get in the cave and wait. Tilly and I hustled over to join her. Meanwhile, Grim was pulling himself out of the lake, and Valeria, Oxriel, and Zoren had formed into a tightcluster on the shore, weapons in their hands. Spears for the Sea Sand guys and Grim, and a gun for Valeria.
“I do not know,” Arton said to Linnet. “The brolka became suddenly frightened, and-”
A roar split the air, like an earthquake in the valley, drowning out Arton’s reply. My heart plunged to my feet.
“What the fuck is that?” Valeria shouted, spinning first this way, then that, her gaze scanning the various nooks and crannies of the valley before moving to the sky. “You three!” Valeria said, catching sight of us. “Get inside!”
Zaria, Tilly, and I were almost at the entrance to Linnet’s cave now. But before we could reach it, a huge shadow fell over us.
And a monster landed on the stone incline above the cave.
“Borog!” Linnet screamed. “Linnet!”
At once, Linnet the Second was at her side. She mounted with liquid ease and urged her into the air.
But the borog followed.
“It has wings!” Tilly gasped, flinching and covering her head as the colossus heaved itself away from the stone. “Nobody said that borogs could fly!”
“They can’t!” Zaria screamed, her sight stars fraying with fear. “At least, no other has before!”
Well, this one fucking could.
It was so huge it seemed to blot out all the sky. Dread turned my veins to ice at the sight of it.
The closest thing I could compare it to was something like a dinosaur, or maybe a winged Komodo dragon on steroids. Its grey, scaly body, including a heavy, powerful tail, had to be at least twenty metres long. Even the giant Grim was dwarfed by the sheer scale of the thing. It had four powerful, reptilian legs, and a shovel-like head the size of a goddamn minivan.
And the wings. Holy shit, it hadwings.
Despite its wings, though, it wasn’t as nimble as the Linnets were in the air. Linnet the Second dodged and dove like a dart.
“It wants my brolka!” Linnet shouted, firing arrows at the thing every chance she got. They pinged off the borog like little balls of paper.
She was probably right. The borog got tired of heaving its terrible body through the air and aimed itself downwards. It landed in the shallows of the lake, creating a mini-tsunami that reached us all the way where we stood near the entrance to Linnet’s cave, soaking us to the knees. The basket of silk and moonbark was lifted from its place on the floor of the cave, bobbing away on the water.
“Should we get inside?” Tilly asked anxiously, eyeing the now-flooded cave and then the nightmarish body of the borog in the valley.
“I’m not so sure,” I admitted. “It could trap us in there!” The stone walls of the cave would do little to protect us if it decided to come for us there. It literally made its home by burrowing through stone just like this.
“Nazreen is right. We need to leave,” Zaria said, tugging us frantically away from the cave’s mouth. “The warriors will distract it long enough for us to get back to the main mountain and alert the others.”
I wasn’t convinced of that plan of action, either. Even without the surprise of the borog’s wings, I had no doubt it could run us down on its legs alone if it wanted to.
But we obviously couldn’t just stand there gaping at it and waiting to get eaten, either. And Zaria was quite strong as she yanked at us, holding Tilly and I by our wrists.
Screw it. I’d rather take my chances running then getting trapped in a cave.
Together we sprinted to the steep slope of rock that led into the narrow valley beyond the lake. Zaria finally released ourarms so that none of us would lose our balance on the uneven, rocky surface of that sheer incline. Naturally, this meant that Zaria pulled slightly ahead. Even pregnant, she was faster. Her legs were so much longer than ours, her feet making easy work of the terrain.
My own feet, I could barely feel. My body was numb with adrenaline, my heart careening wildly, as if it wanted to outrun my own ribcage. Behind us, great crashes made the ground tremble, and the borog gave two more of its horrific roars.
When we reached the top of the slippery slope, I allowed myself one quick look back, to ascertain the borog’s current location and make sure everybody else down there was OK. Linnet was still on her braxilk. Everyone else was running towards us. Arton screamed Zaria’s name.
The borog was in the air again. And it was coming right for us.
