The Thing Beneath
1567 Words
Damon didn't sleep that night.
Neither did I.
We sat in his room, the map spread between us, the fire crackling low. His hand rested on my knee. Mine rested on his.
"You're sure about this?" he asked.
"I'm sure about finding answers. I'm not sure about what we'll find."
"That's not comforting."
"I'm not trying to be comforting." I traced the caves on the map. "My mother said something is down there. Something old. Something hungry. We need to know what it is before we go back."
"And if it's dangerous?"
"Then we bring more weapons."
Damon laughed. Quiet. Rough. "You're impossible."
"You love it."
"I do." He pulled me onto his lap. His arms wrapped around my waist. "But I also love the idea of you not dying in a cave beneath a mountain."
"I'm not planning to die."
"Neither did the last hundred wolves who went down there."
I looked at him. "A hundred?"
"Silas has been feeding people to that thing for centuries. Rogue wolves. Enemies. Anyone who crossed him." His jaw tightened. "No one comes back."
"We're not no one."
"You're someone." He kissed my forehead. "You're my someone."
I leaned into him. Let his warmth chase away the cold.
"Then we go together. And we come back together."
"Promise?"
"I promise."
Dawn came too fast.
The pack gathered in the courtyard. Wolves I didn't know. Wolves I was learning to trust. Rina stood at the front, her rust-colored eyes sharp.
"You're really going back," she said.
"We're going to the caves beneath the fortress," I said. "Not the fortress itself."
"Same mountain. Same danger."
"Different goal."
She studied me. "You're not going to kill him."
"Not yet."
"Then what are you going to do?"
"Find out what's keeping him alive. And find out how to turn it against him."
Rina was quiet for a long moment. Then she nodded.
"I'm coming with you."
"You don't have to."
"I know." She strapped a knife to her thigh. "But someone has to watch your back. And Damon will be too busy watching the rest of you."
I almost smiled. "Fair."
The ride to the mountain was faster this time.
No carriage. Just wolves on horseback. The trees blurred past. The sky turned from pink to gray.
"We're close," Damon said.
"How do you know?"
"I can feel it." His horse moved closer to mine. "The magic. It's thicker here."
I could feel it too. A weight in the air. A pressure behind my eyes.
"The veil," I said.
"Not the veil. Something older."
We stopped at the edge of the forest. The waterfall roared in the distance. But we weren't going to the waterfall.
"There's another entrance," I said, studying the map. "A tunnel. East of here. Hidden by rocks."
"Show me."
I led the way.
The tunnel was smaller than I expected.
Narrow. Dark. The kind of darkness that swallowed sound.
"We need light," Rina said.
Damon struck a flint. A torch flared.
The walls were wet. Carved with symbols I didn't recognize. Old. Older than Silas. Older than the mountain.
"What language is that?" Rina asked.
"I don't know." I touched the symbols. They were warm. Almost alive. "But it's watching us."
"The symbols?"
"The thing behind them."
Damon stepped closer. His hand found mine.
"Stay close."
"I'm not going anywhere."
We walked deeper.
The tunnel opened into a cavern.
Massive. Dark. The ceiling was lost in shadow. The floor was covered in bones.
Not wolf bones. Not human bones. Something else. Something larger.
"What are these?" Rina whispered.
"Old," I said. "Very old."
Damon raised the torch. The light flickered across the walls.
And then—
Something moved.
In the shadows. At the edge of the light. A shape. Large. Hunched.
"We're not alone," I said.
"I know."
Damon drew his sword. Rina drew her knife. I pulled the silver dagger from my belt.
The shape moved closer.
Closer.
A face emerged from the dark.
Not human. Not wolf. Something in between. Eyes like burning coals. Skin like cracked stone. A mouth full of teeth that shouldn't exist.
"You brought me food," it said.
Its voice was like rocks grinding together. Deep. Old.
"We're not food," I said.
"Everything is food. Eventually."
It stepped closer. The torchlight revealed its body. Massive. Twisted. Wrong.
"What are you?" Damon asked.
"I am what was here before the wolves. Before the mountains. Before the moon." It tilted its head. "I am the hunger."
"Silas feeds you."
"Silas gives me blood. You give me meat." It smiled. "I prefer meat."
It lunged.
Damon moved first.
His sword connected with the thing's arm. The blade bounced off. Didn't cut. Didn't even leave a mark.
"It can't be killed," the thing said. "I've tried."
"Then we'll find another way."
I stepped forward. The dagger in my hand. Silver. Blessed.
The thing's eyes widened.
"Where did you get that?"
"From my mother."
"Your mother is dead."
"No. She's not." I raised the dagger. "And you're going to tell me how to kill Silas. Or I'm going to find out what this dagger does to things like you."
The thing laughed. It was a horrible sound.
"You think that little knife can hurt me?"
"I think it can hurt anything." I stepped closer. "Want to find out?"
The thing stopped laughing.
"Silver," it said. "Blessed silver. The old magic."
"The old magic."
"You don't know what you're holding."
"Then tell me."
It was quiet for a long moment. The burning coals of its eyes studied me.
"That dagger was forged in the first age. Dipped in the blood of the first wolf. Blessed by the goddess herself." It stepped back. "It can kill anything. Even me."
"Then you'll help us."
"Or you'll kill me."
"Or I'll kill you."
The thing was quiet again. Then it nodded.
"Silas is not the master. I am. He gives me blood. I give him immortality. But the bargain is old. Tainted." It looked at the dagger. "If you cut the bond between us, he becomes mortal."
"How do I cut the bond?"
"You don't. The dagger does. But you have to use it in the heart of the mountain. Where the bargain was made."
"The throne room."
"Yes."
I lowered the dagger. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me." It stepped back into the shadows. "I'm not helping you. I'm helping myself. Silas has grown boring. I want new blood."
It disappeared.
The cavern was empty.
We climbed out of the tunnel as the sun set.
Damon didn't speak. Neither did Rina. The other wolves waited by the horses, their faces pale.
"What did you see?" one of them asked.
"Nothing," Rina said. "We saw nothing."
They didn't believe her. But they didn't ask again.
Damon helped me onto my horse. His hands lingered on my waist.
"You okay?"
"I'm fine."
"You're lying."
"I'm processing." I looked at him. "There's a thing under the mountain that's been eating wolves for centuries. And we just made a deal with it."
"A deal?"
"We don't kill it. It helps us kill Silas."
"That's not a deal. That's a truce."
"Same thing."
Damon shook his head. "You're impossible."
"You love it."
"I do." He climbed onto his horse. "Let's go home."
The ride back was quiet.
The moon rose. The stars came out. The forest was dark and cold.
"She's going to be okay," Damon said.
"Who?"
"Your mother. You're worried about her."
"Of course I'm worried about her. She's been in that mountain for fifteen years."
"And now she's out. And you're going to keep her out." He reached for my hand. "You saved her, Sera. That's not nothing."
"I should have saved her sooner."
"You were a child."
"I'm not a child anymore."
"No. You're not." He squeezed my fingers. "You're a queen."
"I'm not a queen."
"Not yet."
I looked at him. At the moonlight on his face. The shadows under his eyes.
"You really think I can do this?"
"I know you can."
"How?"
"Because you're still here. After everything. The death. The prison. The rebirth." He pulled my horse closer to his. "You're still here."
I didn't have an answer for that.
So I just held his hand and rode.
The fortress appeared on the horizon.
Torches burned on the walls. Wolves stood guard. Home.
"Rina," Damon said. "Take the others inside. We'll be there in a moment."
She nodded. Rode ahead.
Damon stopped his horse. I stopped mine.
"What are we doing?"
"Waiting."
"For what?"
"For you to tell me what's really bothering you."
I looked at him. At his dark eyes. His steady face.
"The thing in the cave," I said. "It knew about the dagger. About the goddess. About the old magic."
"So?"
"So that means there's more to this world than I knew. More than anyone knew." I looked at the stars. "What if we can't win?"
"Then we die trying."
"That's not comforting."
"It's not supposed to be comforting. It's supposed to be true." He moved his horse closer. "We're going to fight. We're going to bleed. And at the end, one of us is going to win."
"You really believe that?"
"I really believe in you."
He kissed me. Slow. Deep. His hand cupped my face.
When he pulled back, my heart was pounding.
"Now," he said. "Let's go home."
We rode through the gates together.
- Writer
