Finn whistled. The honey badger’s head snapped toward the sound. Back on his feet, Boris shot across the chamber, a blur of fur and fury, crashing into Brute’s knee along with another tide of rats. The vampire staggered.
The rodents surged in with Boris in a coordinated wave of claws and teeth. Brute’s scream ripped through the area as they tore into his body.
Boris’s jaws clamped onto his finger, biting it off. Brute flung him away and stomped at the rats as he clutched his bleeding hand, eyes blazing with feral fury.
The badger lay slumped against a wall where he’d landed.
My head throbbed as I directed my null at Fiorella,just to ease the tension clamping down on my skull. Switching targets brought momentary relief from overuse of my magic. The crow raked at Fiorella’s eyes while rats swarmed her boots.
The maze groaned, and stone vibrated underfoot. Dust rained down. The rodents squeaked and darted in circles as the walls shifted.
Compulsion magic slammed into me. My joints locked. I sent my nullification over the devotee, and the mental chains snapped, causing me to stumble forward.
Fiorella raised her hand. The temperature plummeted. Frost crept across the floor toward us. I transmitted my magic back over her, and the creeping stopped.
My vision doubled. Each shift bought me seconds, but the cost kept mounting. And we were losing. I trembled, sweat stinging my eyes as each breath grew harder than the last.
The ice-wielding vampire unleashed a barrage of frozen shards, and I barely rolled aside. Several bounced off my leathers. One grazed my cheek.
I saw Brute’s punch coming but couldn’t move fast enough and took it on my shoulder. The impact spun me halfway around.
Another flurry of frozen shards flew at Finn. He dodged most, but a few caught his arm, tearing the fabric. Blood bloomed through his sleeve. Compulsion’s stare pinned Finn in place. Veins stood out in Finn’s neck from strain.
Brute’s fist struck my ribs again. I heard something crack. Unable to draw air into my lungs, I fell to my knees. My head throbbed sharply as my null failed.
Fiorella’s laughter echoed off the walls as she advanced. “This is almost too easy.”
Compulsion and Ice closed in on Finn from both sides.He parried and dodged, his hammer moving in desperate arcs, yet his movements had slowed. My own arms shook with every shallow breath, blood soaking through my shirt.
The maze shifted again; walls groaned as stone scraped against stone. A crack opened, revealing pale mushrooms with pulsing caps.
After swatting away more of the rats, Brute’s kick sent me slamming onto the fungus. A cloud of glittering spores erupted. I rolled away, trying to cover my nose, but it was too late.
I choked on a mouthful of bitter spores. Fiorella and her three remaining devotees had pressed close. The densest part of the spore cloud enveloped them, and rasping coughs tore from their mouths.
Across the chamber, Finn had been forced back by the ice vampire’s earlier assault. He stood near the far wall, about fifteen feet from where I’d hit the mushrooms. He swiftly pulled his shirt up over his nose and mouth. His eyes watered above the fabric, but he remained standing.
Another cough jarred my head, and my vision blurred. At the epicenter of the spore cloud, I was afflicted the worst. Fiorella and her Devotion began to recover and regroup while I struggled to breathe.
Finn attacked Compulsion while his defenses were down, driving his blade deep into the bloodsucker’s shoulder.
More spores billowed up as I dragged myself away from the mushrooms, hand over hand.
Fiorella’s blade found me, opening a gash across my arm. Her eyes locked on to mine with predatory focus.
Invisible chains wrapped around my mind; my limbs stiffened, muscles seized. Her will crashed down upon me.
I was going to die here.
No.
Digging deep, I unleashed my nullification in a desperate surge. The compulsion snapped away.
Pain pulsed in my head, sharper than any weapon. I grabbed her ankle and pulled, sending her falling backward into the densest cluster of mushrooms. Spores exploded in a glowing cloud around her. I held my breath.
Her movements slowed, becoming sluggish and uncoordinated. The remaining devotees rushed to her side while I continued dragging myself away. The spores swirled around them, and they collapsed too.
The spores were buying time but not victory. The crow lay in a heap of broken feathers near the wall. Rats, too many to count, lay scattered and still. The snake’s frozen fragments glittered among the stones.
