Glowly's Arc

Chapter 8 of 16

The scratched map on the spear led them into thick jungle. Glowly walked point, the wolf pup at her heel, the dragon warm on her shoulder. Nova trailed behind, chalky hands trailing on wet bark. The path was narrow. Roots split it thin. They could only walk single file, spread out in a long line. The pup stopped. Its ears flattened. A low growl came from deep in its chest. Glowly froze. She heard nothing but dripping leaves. Then a branch snapped far to her left. Something big moved parallel to the path, keeping pace with them. She caught a flash of stripes between the trees. "Nova," she said, low. "Close up. Now." But Nova was twenty steps back, bent over a root tangle. The path curved between them. Glowly could not see her. The striped shape shifted, sliding toward the gap. It was hunting the space between them, waiting for the line to stretch. Glowly understood. Strung out like this, they were easy meat. It would take the straggler first, then the next. She had to pull them into one knot. "Everyone to me!" she shouted. She drove the spear butt into the mud and grabbed the curved blade from her back. The cat broke cover. It launched at Nova, who was still fighting free of the roots. Nova threw herself sideways in a tight roll, quick as a spring, and the claws raked bark instead of skin. She came up running toward Glowly. "Coming!" Nova yelled. She snatched her short blade as she moved. The pup planted itself in the path and barked, buying two seconds. The dragon shot off Glowly's shoulder. It hovered above the cat and blew a jet of hot breath at its face. The cat flinched and swatted air. That pause let Nova reach Glowly. They stood back to back now, blades out, the pup at their feet, the dragon circling above. One tight cluster. No straggler left to pick off. The cat circled them once. It found no soft edge, no lone target. Glowly stepped forward and slashed the glowing blade across its path. The runes flared blue. The cat hissed, backed off, then bolted into the green and vanished. The jungle went quiet. Nova bent double, breathing hard. "You called us in," she said. "Smart. It wanted us split." "It almost got you." Glowly's hands shook. She sheathed the blade and pulled the spear from the mud. Then she looked at the ground where the cat had crouched. Its claws had torn the soil open. Beneath the ripped roots lay flat stone, worn smooth, edged in old carving. Glowly knelt and brushed the dirt clear. Steps. A wide stair, descending into dark, half swallowed by the earth. Water pooled at the bottom. "The drowned steps," she whispered. "We found them."