The Way Into Chaos (56 page)

Four of the raptors left the maze of ravines, flapping out over the forest and gaining height. Cazia couldn’t see where they were going, but she heard that avalanche sound again...except it didn’t sound like an avalanche any more.
 

They finally reached the last ridge. The other side was a longer, gentler slope, but it was covered with scraggly bramble and thorny vines. Reaching the misty green forest beyond wasn’t going to be simple.
 

“Tree,” Kinz said, and hobbled southward down the slope. There was a single tree growing just below the top of the ridge, lonely, twisted, and blackened by fire. Cazia and Ivy followed.
 

Afternoon sun had burned off enough of the fog that the treetops of the forest were visible above the upper layer. The place Chik had led them into the network of ravines was south of them now; they could see swirls of mist retreating from the warm air blowing from it.
 

“Oh!” Ivy exclaimed. She pointed out into the forest mists. A treetop suddenly rose up out of the fog and fell to the side. Then another one. The sound of a tremendous, crashing avalanche, which before had seemed to come from everywhere, echoed from the forest.
 

Something was moving out there in the fog, and this time they knew it could not be a Tilkilit squad. Whatever it was, it was big.
 

Kinz fell against the tree trunk, panting. She was the strongest of them, but her injury was exhausting her. Ivy, too, was flagging. Cazia knelt beside them. She realized she should have been more tired than either of them, then immediately noticed the ache in her lungs and weariness in her legs. Odd that she couldn’t feel her own pain without actively thinking about it.
 

While they caught their breath in the shadow of the tree, Cazia tried to consider their options. The vine towers they’d used to descend into the valley were a day or two east of them, far out into the forest. Not only would they have to escape the Tilkilit to reach them, they’d have to avoid whatever was crashing around in the fog. And the protection the vines would provide from the raptors was chancy. But they certainly couldn’t climb the rock face; the Great Terror would pluck them like jars of compote on a pantry shelf.

The only other option was to create another tunnel. They would be safe from the raptors, but casting that spell that many times would utterly destroy her.
 

Part of her wanted that.
 

“We have to chance the forest,” Cazia said.
 

“I can climb,” Kinz said. “Do not leave me behind. I can still make it.”

Ivy clutched her hand. “Of course we won’t leave you behind!”
 

Kinz shot a hard look at Cazia. There was no use pretending she wasn’t considering it, but fine. All three would escape together, if they could. Cazia nodded.
 

There was another terrifying rumble, and the mists swirled to the south. Whatever it was, it was heading to block the entrance to the ravines.
 

Then, in the space where the warm winds blowing into the forests pushed back the fog, they saw it. The soil swelled up--looking suddenly very like the long mound of loose earth they’d climbed over—then broke apart and fell to either side. From beneath, a massive brown cylinder pushed partway out of the ground.
 

At first, Cazia had no idea what she was looking at. It looked almost like a stack of squat clay pots tipped on its side. It lifted up at the center, body curling as it dragged more segments out of the soil. It toppled trees, turf, and stone.
 

Then the near end broke free and raised up into the air.
 

It was a mouth. The end of it was all mouth.
 

The rim was surrounded by what looked to be teeth, but after a moment, Cazia realized they were moving like stubby, knuckle-less fingers grasping at the air.
They move the dirt into its mouth,
she realized.
It’s a huge worm.

The inside of the mouth reflected sunlight with a weird rainbow sheen, and fluid sloshed around in the bottom of its inflexible jaw. Insect warriors ran alongside it, many scooping stones off the ground. A few, dressed in white sashes, scaled the side of the worm in huge bounds and clung to the top like sailors balancing on a capsized boat.
 

“Riding beasts,” Cazia said.

Chapter 27

The Tilkilit’s huge, burrowing monster was simply fascinating.
 

Kinz fell back behind the tree, clutching at her mouth as though stifling a scream. Ivy crouched behind her, fumbling at her little quiver. Both had clearly been struck with terror at the sight of the thing, not to mention the swarm of warriors accompanying it. There must have been a hundred Tilkilit at least, with more streaming out of the forest with every breath.
 

But to Cazia, it was all just a curiosity. Had the worms come through the portal? They must have, and it must have been a tight fit. What did a creature like that eat? What would it be like to be devoured by that gigantic mouth? Was it just another gateway to a new world?
 

“Get down!” Ivy snapped, grabbing Cazia’s sleeve and dragging her behind the dubious cover of a thicket.

“By Inzu,” Kinz said, “we will all make to die here, just as Mahz said.”
 

“No, we will not,” Ivy said. “I have an idea.”
 

Cazia peeked over the top of the thicket. The warriors were advancing toward the opening of the ravine, but the worm was squirming toward the hill, moving closer to the three of them as though it could sense them.
 

Ivy cut the hem of her hiking dress off, just as Cazia had, then sheathed her knife. She rubbed the length of cloth on Kinz’s oiled braid and began to tie it behind the head of one of her arrows.

“Big sister,” Ivy said, not looking up at Cazia, “do you think you could create a tiny fire? We do not need to burn down a city, just create a little candle flame.”

Casting a spell was something Cazia very much wanted to do, but the power running through that hollow space inside of her was tremendously strong. Creating a tiny flame would be like cracking open a shutter in a hurricane.
 

Still, many things were possible. Cazia glanced again over the top of the thickets. The worm had reached the base of the hill and had started up toward them. It wasn’t fast, but it was inexorable. The Tilkilit had changed direction with it, following whatever sense led the creature toward them. From the top of the ridge, Cazia hadn’t been able to spot paths down through the thickets, but the warriors had. They marched upslope in two single-file lines.
 

She crouched back down and began making the hand movements, instinctively adjusting them to restrict the amount of magic that would pass through her. No, she realized suddenly, it wasn’t instinct. The hollow space itself knew how to control her spell. It was not just a wound or a Curse; it was somehow aware. Not alive, but aware. And aching with sorrow.

That, too, was interesting. Yes, just a few days ago she would have been horrified at the idea, but she was no longer capable of that. Maybe the thing inside her, whatever it was, had planned it that way.
 

Spell finished, a flare shot from the space between Cazia’s hands. It was small, but not as small as a candle flame. It touched the roots of the thicket and, green and damp though they were, set them aflame.
 

Ivy had the arrow with the oiled cloth tied to the front already nocked. She swung the trailing piece of cloth into the little jet of flame, and it caught.
 

The little princess immediately stood, and Cazia stood with her. Fire and Fury, the worm was already more than halfway up the hill, and it was much too big to have fit through the portal. Once again, Cazia idly wondered what Chik’s people fed it.
 

Ivy’s loosed her little arrow immediately. As it arced downward, the Tilkilit began to make frantic tapping sounds.
A child’s weapon against a colossus,
Cazia thought.
 

Then the arrow struck the rainbow sheen in the worm’s mouth just above the liquid sloshing in the bottom of its jaw. Flame immediately raced around the inside of the mouth like water spilled over a stone floor. Then it touched the pool of fluid. The mouth lit up like a bonfire.
 

The Tilkilit threw a volley of stones, forcing Cazia and Ivy to take cover behind the tree. Bark flew off the trunk at each impact. These were smooth, dark stones like the ones Chik had carried in his hip pouch, and Cazia wondered why they bothered when there were so many others lying around.
 

A spout of flame blasted through the thickets in a wave of heat and blinding light. Kinz screamed and fell to the dirt, her hair alight. Ivy leaped on her, smothering the flames with the hem of her skirt. The tree above was on fire...everything around them was.
The Fifth Gift is a water spell
, Cazia realized, but Kinz’s oiled hair had already been smothered. Harsh, acrid smoke choked and blinded them.
 

Cazia stood. The worm had reared up, throwing its riders in every direction. Foot soldiers fled down the hill for the cover of the forest, but the worm rolled and thrashed, crushing many of them. Then it slammed its mouth against the side of the hill and tried to burrow; the stony, broken soil thwarted it.
 

Plumes of black smoke billowed from its open mouth, with more squirting out between the segments; the worm looked to be slowly coming apart. Raptors circled well above the smoke and fire. Cazia was sure that if the creature could make a sound, it would have been screaming.
 

The girls retreated southward along the ridge line. Kinz looked at Ivy with astonishment. “Was that the magic arrow?”
 

“No!” Ivy answered, equally astonished. “I never expected—”

The fifth segment behind the worm’s head suddenly burst open, spraying burning fluid and meat across the stony ground. The creature collapsed. The head struck the hillside and rolled--still burning--toward the forest.
 

“I never expected this,” Ivy said again. “I saw that rainbow sheen on the inside of the mouth and knew it was oil. I hoped to just drive it off, maybe frighten it away. I did not mean to kill it. Do you think it was in pain?”

Of course, Ivy had already shot two Tilkilit warriors, but Cazia didn’t want to upset her further by pointing that out. “Look, the fire has burned away some of the thicket. Let’s—”

Ivy didn’t need encouragement. As she started down the hill, Cazia beat burning specks from the back of her dress.
 

Kinz trailed behind, but Cazia no longer minded the delay. Thanks to Ivy and Kinz, she had seen something no human had ever seen before. And to think that she had been about to abandon them.
 

Together they ran down the burning hillside, kicking aside blackened thickets and beating at flames and thorns that caught at their clothes. Cinders floated around them, landing on their bare arms and cheeks. They were halfway to the bottom when Cazia realized she’d left the spear on the ridge.
 

A change in the wind blew oily black smoke over them, and they nearly collapsed with choking. Cazia had to practically carry the princess down the hill.
 

A raptor swooped down into the smoke, then flapped upward with a figure in its talons. Kinz lost her balance and fell to her knees. Ivy went slack and fell beside her, still coughing. When Cazia dragged them both upright, their clothes were ashy and smoldering. Somewhere up ahead, another of the worm’s segments burst open, hurling chunks of burning flesh into the air.
 

“Keep moving,” Cazia said, her throat tight. She realized she had slowed quite a bit. Her lungs. She was choking on the smoke and not getting nearly enough air. If she didn’t start paying attention to her body, it was going to kill her.
 

Cazia knew they had to stumble onto one of the paths the Tilkilit had used to climb the hill, eventually. The torn hem of her skirt no longer protected her shins from the cinders and thorns. Her boots were becoming painfully hot.
 

Then she stepped, and found no ground for her foot to fall on. The three of them slid down a
 
steep, stony part of the hill. Kinz cried out piteously, a sound Cazia was sure would draw the raptors. Ivy lay on her stomach at the bottom of the slope, her elbows and forehead scraped bloody. Cazia went to help her up and was suddenly face to face with one of the insect warriors.
 

It was dead, obviously. It had been burned gray, still upright only because it had become tangled in the thicket. Interestingly, the worst burns seemed to be around the base of its skull where its speaking scents came out.
 

Beside the body was a deer path down the hill. Cazia helped Kinz to her feet, then led them away from the flames. Immediately, the air became cleaner. After several paces, they stopped long enough for their coughing fits to pass.