“We must follow the breath of the Great Wind,” he explained. “It blows straight through the Crackles. It will show us the right path.”
With the matter settled, the group headed down a dry wash between towering cliff walls. The party had dwindled to thirty men and women, a mix of sailors, and a handful of Djer’s rebels. Many limped; others sported bandages. They all had weapons in hand.
“Take care to follow closely and stay together,” Shaduf warned. “If you drift even a few steps, you can get lost quickly. The lurkers in the Crackle will shy from our numbers, but if you’re caught off alone …”
He didn’t have to finish that sentence. Jake still had bits of bone stuck in the treads of his boots.
As they marched, the group was forced to move in pairs as the walls pinched together. The open sky squeezed to a slit far overhead. Shadows fell heavily. It was almost chilly after the open desert; but rather than refreshing, it felt menacing, like the cold clamminess of an open grave. The casual chatter among the group died away.
As they continued to go deeper, the canyon branched out. Nefertiti’s uncle would stop at each crossroad, test the way with a sprinkle of sand, and lead them onward. Soon other canyons tangled with theirs; some climbed up, others sank away and became tunnels.
As the sun sank away, it became night in the canyons. Several of the group had scavenged long bones from the graveyard and turned them into torches by stabbing fire gourds onto their ends. Jake took one, studying how the torch crafters had bored small holes in the gourds near the stems to channel the flames.
He held his torch aloft and followed Shaduf, Politor, and Horus. His friends stuck to his side.
“Can’t be much farther,” Shaduf said, though he sounded unsure as he stopped at the crossroads of five canyons.
A bustling commotion rose behind them. Nefertiti scooted her way from the rear of their party. Breathless, she shoved back the hood of her hunting outfit.
“We’re being tracked,” she announced. “I heard hissing, the scrape of rock. Coming from many directions.”
Confirming this, a rattle of falling rock echoed from one of the canyons ahead of them. A bestial cough from another.
“I thought you said the lurkers wouldn’t bother us in a group,” Pindor said.
Shaduf shrugged. “They usually don’t. Something must have them agitated. That, or they’re very hungry.”
Not the words Pindor wanted to hear.
Jake didn’t like them much either.
“What do we do?” Marika said.
Both Nefertiti and Shaduf answered at the same time … though their responses were vastly different.
“We fight,” Nefertiti said, and lifted a spear.
“We run,” Shaduf cautioned, and pointed.
The decision was made for them.
Jake spotted a flicker as something shot past overhead. He might have missed it, but it wafted straight through the smoke of his torch. He swung around, searching for it, but couldn’t find it.
Had he imagined it?
Before he could decide, a warbling screech rose from all directions. A mass of saurians burst from the surrounding chutes, tunnels, and canyons. The creatures ran on two legs, hissing and shouldering into one another. Each bore a sickle-shaped claw poking from the back of its ankle.
Jake recognized them like old friends.
Velociraptors.
Only these specimens were gangly, twisted and starved versions of the pack that had greeted them in Deshret. And there was something else about them, a shine of a malignant cunning in their eyes. Shaduf had warned that the creatures here were affected by living in the shadow of Ankh Tawy.
A chaotic battle ensued. Jake and his friends got backed against a wall, but the people of Deshret had lived for ages among such beasts. Spears, swords, and clubs fended off the first attack.
A larger bellow rose from another canyon. It trumpeted its anger. Heavy running footfalls headed their way.
The velociraptors scattered like a flock of frightened birds.
Nefertiti and Shaduf shared a look. This time they were in agreement.
“RUN!” they both shouted.
Unfortunately, they didn’t say where.
The group fled in all directions. Jake sprinted with his torch, following Nefertiti and Marika. Bach’uuk and Pindor kept close behind.
Again Jake felt something brush through the air, grazing the top of his head. Startled, he ducked to the side, expecting to hit rock, but found only shadow—and a pit. He fell headlong, sliding down a steep open chute. Rocks and sand followed.
“Jake!” Marika yelled.
After a breathless fall, he landed in a cavern and skidded across the floor atop a wash of sand. He rolled quickly to his feet. He had managed to keep hold of his torch and held it toward the hole. Way above, he saw a shadowed face.
“Marika!”
“Are you all right?” she shouted.
He took inventory. He had all of his parts. “Yes! But there’s no way I can climb back up. It’s too steep.”
“We’ll find a rope!” Pindor hollered.
Unfortunately, all their yelling did not go unnoticed. A roaring scream echoed down from above. It sounded close—and closing in.
“Go!” he called to them. “I’ll find a way to join up with you!”
To make sure they didn’t stay and attempt a rescue, Jake retreated across the cavern to a dark tunnel. He pointed his torch ahead of him, lighting the way, and set off.
He sought a tunnel that headed up, but the passageway he was in kept going deeper. Each step dribbled more sweat down his back. His ears strained for any sign of threat, any hint where the others had gone.
Finally, the passage split. One tunnel headed down, but the other headed up.
At last!
He’d just begun his ascent when he got buzzed again. There was no better description. Something zipped past his ear. He whipped around, but nothing was there. It was like being pestered by a mosquito in a dark bedroom.
Shaking his head, Jake continued up.
Only to be dive-bombed again.
“Quit it!” he yelled, swinging out with his torch.
He marched with his head low, his torch high.
As he rounded a bend, a pair of huge eyes reflected the tiny flame. Something huffed, blowing foul air at him. Then it roared, blasting back his hair, almost snuffing his torch.
Jake turned on a heel and ran.
The pounding of heavy legs followed—at first slowly, but gaining speed. Another bellow rolled down the tunnel, washing over Jake.
Hitting the crossroads, he took a sharp turn into the passage that headed down. He didn’t know where it led, but he dared not stop moving. As he ran, a humming buzz zipped past his shoulder, rushing ahead of him, as if leading him onward.