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.Things dripped and dribbled.Somewhere, a trickle of water fell and splattered, sounding like a pitcher being carefully poured onto rocks.Finally, I cursed under my breath, muttering a string of obscenities.I began feeling the walls again, heading back the way I had come.I took my bottle out and gripped it firmly in my hand.I directed it forward into the darkness but held my fire.I wasn’t certain the noise I’d heard had been McKesson firing his gun.Whoever it was, he was probably dead by now.But these arguments didn’t persuade me.I had come down here to hunt a monster and save lives.It was time to stop running around in a panic and to get back into the game.The world was dark and humid.It had the feel of a moonless night under a jungle canopy.The walls and ceiling above me were curved, and they crawled with strange, stinking mud.There were dank pools of liquid here and there at my feet.The glowing green bottle in my hand reflected off the surface of each puddle, making them look like a dozen gleaming eyes.The Beast was here somewhere, I was certain of that.The evidence was everywhere, the most common being the piles of rubbery wet leather that were underfoot at the bottom of the tunnel.I’d come to the conclusion these were the shed skins of the tentacles that grew in clusters.I put away my bottle because it would not stop glowing in my hand.I didn’t want it to give me away.I proceeded down the nearest tunnel, listening and staring in the almost total darkness.I heard the splash of an unseen foot in a puddle ahead.I froze, heart pounding.I raised my hands, with the liver in my clenched fist.If it was one of the things I’d come to refer to in my mind as a guardian, I would try out my new weapon on it.“Who’s there?” hissed out a voice.I sighed in relief.“McKesson? It’s Draith.”The splashing moved closer.“Where are you? Can’t see.”We moved forward and we met at a low point in the twisting passage.McKesson and I almost walked into one another.We’d both been creeping along in the dark, trying to avoid detection by the Beast, its tentacles, and its guardians.“I thought you weren’t going to come,” I said.“You riled up all the damned tentacles.They were snaking everywhere back in the counting rooms like a thousand angry hoses.I decided I might as well join the party here with you.”“Interesting.They don’t seem to be coming after us in here.”“Well, I guess they figure we are as good as digested once we come inside their domain.Remember, that’s what they’re doing, dragging people back into this world to be devoured.We just helped them along by jumping into the Beast’s maw.From their point of view, that’s mission accomplished.”I grunted.I disliked his summary of the situation, but was unable to refute it.“How did you get away from that guardian?”“The big thing that came at me out of the dark? I just shot at it and ran.Not sure if I really hurt it or not.It seemed to want me to head this way, to be driving me in this direction.”I agreed.We didn’t like it, but we decided to follow its wishes and advance farther into the tunnels.It was either that or face the guardian together.“Do you think this guardian thing is the Beast?” I asked.“No, not big enough.”I had to agree.The guardian was perhaps the size of a pickup truck, but nowhere near as big as an office building.As we pressed onward, the walls of the tunnel became slicker and seemed to angle downward slightly.I briefly revealed my bottle, which seemed to light up whenever I was in a tense mood.I used it like a flashlight so we could have a look around.We’d reached a point where we found dry, crispy spots on the floor of the tunnel.The air had changed, too, becoming acrid with a smoky taint in the mix.“What is that stink?” McKesson asked.“Smells like burned meat.”I could think of a dozen sources, but none were savory, so I didn’t answer.After turning a sharp corner, we saw light playing on the walls ahead of us.We cautiously moved closer and saw a dark lump moving.The walls around it were singed and hazy with vapor.A moment later, the lump turned slightly, and I saw familiar eyes like jewels on stalks and recognized the snail-like profile.“Ezzie?” I hissed in the dark.She turned around and regarded us.She paused for a moment, taking us in.She wasn’t what I’d call a fast thinker.“Are you two lost?” she asked at last.“Yeah, you could say that,” McKesson said.“What are you doing down here?”“Goading the Beast.”I felt a shock when I heard her words.Could it be true?“This is all your fault?” I demanded.“What are you doing, burning these tunnels to make the Beast mad?”“Mad.Yes, mad with pain.”“Why are you doing this?” I asked.“I want it to find Rostok.I thought if the Beast brought him, he might be my pet in this place.But I’m not sure now.I don’t like it very much.The Beast is too powerful.”“Ezzie, you must stop goading the Beast.”“Why?”“Because it’s killing people.Even now, as we speak.”“What people?” she asked in surprise.“The people in the Lucky Seven.”“Oh no! The Beast was only supposed to catch my Rostok and bring him here to me.”“Well, unfortunately, it’s taking the Lucky Seven down in the process and eating everyone inside.”“That’s terrible.We must speak with the Beast about this.”McKesson jumped into the conversation at this point.“Be a good slug and lead us to the Beast’s heart, will you Ezzie?”“I will,” she said, and she glided away.Behind her, the path sizzled and steamed.It was an easy trail to follow.While we walked in her stinking, hot exhaust, I had time to ponder what I had learned.Could this entire place be the Beast? Was the Beast not a being—but a place? I was uncertain.I was unable to get any coherent answers out of Ezzie on the subject, so we pressed onward.“How did you get here, craziest of lava-slugs?” McKesson asked her.“I traveled here.At first, when I began to cross worlds, I couldn’t control my destination.But after doing it for a while, I became able to direct the flow.Now, I go where I like.”“But how?” asked McKesson.“Do you carry an artifact?”“Not exactly…” she said, moving her stalks far apart.“I ate one.”I laughed aloud.“Of course you did.What did it taste like?”“I don’t know.It won’t come out.”I tried not to think about her odd choice of words.Probably, her command of English was imperfect.“It’s stuck inside you?” I asked.“Yes.And I want to keep it now; it’s been useful.”“So, let me get this straight.You ate one of Rostok’s artifacts, and you used it to travel the worlds until you found your home.Why didn’t you stay there? Why did you come here?”“I was lonely.I missed Rostok.He mistreats me, but…I still want my Rostok.”“Uh-huh.But why here?”“Why? Because Rostok used to live here.”It took a while to get the full story out of Ezzie, and even afterward, I wasn’t sure I understood everything.But as far as I could tell, Rostok wasn’t entirely human anymore.One of his objects, one I’d never seen, gave him his greatest power.Like many of the artifacts, it had a serious side effect, and it had changed him.He’d become attached to this place, the home of the Beast, and he’d become like the creatures here.He liked the dark now [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]