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“What’s it waiting for?”
“The chase,” Kelaros whispers. “It enjoys the hunt more than the kill.”
Cold dread sinks its claws into me.
The sithean stone tugs insistently in a direction opposite from our planned escape route. Toward Elionn. Always toward Elionn. But the stag stands between us and the path, its crystalline body blocking the way forward.
“Ready?” Kelaros breathes, muscles coiled tight.
“Wait.” I reach into my makeshift pack, fingers closing around the largest shard of food crystal. “Distraction first.”
I hurl the crystal past the stag. It shatters against the far wall with a musical chime, and the stag whips toward the sound.
“Now!” I pivot and run, ignoring the fire that tears through my side with each step.
Kelaros keeps pace beside me, his breathing controlled and even. Behind us, the musical clicking of crystal hooves follows, unhurried in its confidence that it can outrun us.
Within the chamber, I find the one Kelaros spoke of, and we race through the archway, traveling along corridors that twist and contract, the walls bleeding crimson light.
The hollow stag follows, its hooves striking musical notes on the floor, and its haunting melody fills these broken halls.
My side burns with each stride, the makeshift bandage growing damp with fresh blood. Pain lances up through my ribs, but I force it down, channeling it into speed as my magic works to heal the new damage.
“Left.” Kelaros grabs my arm to guide me around a corner.
The passage ahead narrows, the ceiling dropping so low we’re forced to duck. Behind us, the musical click of hooves pauses, then resumes at the same unhurried pace.
“It can’t fit through here.” Tension undercuts Kelaros’s certainty. “We can lose it.”
The tunnel stretches before us, walls slick with condensation that reflects our desperate flight in fractured images. My boots slip on the smooth floor, and Kelaros catches me before I fall, his grip firm but careful to avoid my injured side.
A deep, resonant sound like a massive bell being struck shakes the passage. The walls around us shudder, and crystal dust rains from the ceiling.
“What was that?” I demand, not slowing.
Kelaros doesn’t answer, his eyes fixed ahead where the corridor widens into a chamber filled with broken pillars.
We burst into the open space, and I skid to a halt.
The chamber offers no exit except the way we came. Walls of solid crystal rise on all sides, reflecting our trapped images back at us a thousand times.
“Shit.” The word escapes me in a breathless rush. “It’s a dead end.”
Kelaros spins, scanning the room for any escape. “This wasn’t here before.”
“What do you mean it wasn’t here?”
“This chamber.” His hand sweeps across the space. “Last time I passed this way, it connected to the eastern corridors.”
The musical clicking of hooves grows louder as the hollow stag nears the chamber entrance. The sound echoes off the crystalline walls, multiplying until the stag seems to approach from every direction.
My knife finds my hand, the runes pulsing with stored magic. “Looks like we fight after all.”
Kelaros takes the other blade I offer, positioning himself at my side. “Aim for the heart. It’s the only way to kill it.”
The stag appears in the entrance, its massive form blocking our only exit. Prismatic light spills from its heart-lantern, turning our reflections into kaleidoscopic phantoms on the walls.
I don’t wait for it to charge. Moving on instinct built over a lifetime of hunting monsters, I lunge forward, knife slashing in a wide arc toward the creature’s exposed ribcage where its glowing heart pulses.
