Witch's Oath

19

The slimy, dark creatures were packed into the corridor so tightly they were jostling each other and having trouble scrambling forward as fast as they wanted. Many of them were clambering to go over the top of others so they could be the first to get at Richard, Kahlan, and the rest of them. Richard knew that as much as they wanted them all, they were especially keen to get their claws into Kahlan.

He had no intention of running, but he needed the rest of those with him to get out of harm’s way. Looking over his shoulder, he saw them all hesitate.

Needle-sharp teeth snapped. Long arms flailed. Claws reached and raked the air as they shrieked their bloodlust to get at them.

Richard waved his arms at the others, urging them to get back. Not only did he want to make sure the Glee didn’t get to Kahlan, he needed all of them back out of the way.

“Go! Run!”

As Shale and Kahlan hesitantly turned to run in the same direction Michec had gone, the Mord-Sith swept in to surround Kahlan. He saw that, at last, they were all running.

Richard turned back to face the enemy racing toward him from around the spiraled end of the corridor where they had been hiding. There were so many of them they were in each other’s way and having trouble going as fast as they wanted. Richard hoped that delay would give him the time he needed.

The shrill, angry sound of the steel coming out made Kahlan and the rest of them all stop and turn back to see what he meant to do. They all knew that there had to be hundreds of Glee coming, far too many for him to fight.

Richard looked back over his shoulder. “Keep going!”

They all backed away, none of them willing to leave Richard to fight the threat alone. They didn’t realize that he had known that Michec had the Glee hiding back in the spiral, and he didn’t have time to explain his intentions to them.

He was worried that they were going to interfere. “Don’t stop! Keep going!”

Shale flung her hands out, sending a shimmering wave of light slamming into the mass of the enemy. The arms of several were blown off by Shale’s power. That blast of magic ripped straight through maybe a dozen dark bodies before it dissipated. Although it cut down some of the Glee, it was insignificant in relation to their numbers. The mass of the monsters simply ran right over the top of the fallen dead.

“Stop!” Richard yelled back at Shale. “You’re going to hit me. I need room! Leave this to me and get back!”

When she nodded her understanding and he was sure that she wasn’t going to do it again and accidentally kill him, he turned back, hoping he hadn’t lost what little time he had. He needed to act before the shrieking creatures got to him.

Richard turned to the side and took a mighty swing with the sword. The tip of the blade whistled through the dank air. With all his power behind it, he sent the blade crashing through one of the fat columns on the side of the corridor opposite the hole he had created. The massive capital, with its support column abruptly gone, dropped straight down to the floor and shattered, sending shards of stone flying.

Even as some of the stone of the column was still toppling, he rushed to take out the next fat column. As soon as a powerful strike from his sword had shattered the second stone support on that side of the corridor, he rushed to the wall beside the jagged hole he had made. With several more swings, he took down the supporting columns on one side of that opening and then on the other side.

Because the wall had been compromised, it caused yet more stone to drop down. Both capitals fell and rolled back down the corridor toward the Glee. The whole area filled with thick, choking stone dust. He could see that it covered some of the wet, leading Glee in the dense pack coming for him, turning them from black to gray.

After that brief look, Richard turned and started running, arms spread wide, ushering the others, who had only gone a short distance, out ahead, urging them to hurry.

“Why would you do that?” Kahlan asked, confused as to why he would waste the time to take out a pair of columns on each side of the corridor.

“Something I learned in the underworld.”

She cast a look back over her shoulder at him as she ran. “What?”

“Keep going. Provided I was quick enough, you’ll see.”

And then he heard the painfully piercing, distinctive sound of massive blocks of granite cracking. It made a ripping, crackling sound something like rolling thunder but higher-pitched as the fractures raced through the stone, making a popping sound as they went.

Richard couldn’t help slowing down to turn and look. He had to be sure. If it didn’t work, they were going to be in a lot of trouble. Everyone else stopped with him to look behind.

Back down the corridor, with the key support elements of the fat columns suddenly shattered, the huge ceiling blocks of stone, as wide as the corridor, had nothing to hold them up. All at once they began to fall free. The sound was horrific, and despite their desire to get away, Richard and the others all stood transfixed by the astounding sight.

The closest block came crashing down first, crushing the leading Glee. Blood and gore shot out from under the block as it hit the stone floor. A few arms, their reaching claws still twitching, stuck out from under the immense block of granite that only an instant before had been the ceiling of the corridor.

As soon as that first massive ceiling block had started falling free, the second, with its support now gone, immediately broke loose and started coming down, then the third, then the fourth, and then each of the rest of the ceiling blocks all the way back through the spiraled dead end came crashing down in swift succession.

That dead end became a killing field as the massive blocks of stone, each as wide as the corridor and nearly as thick, plummeted down with a thunderous sound in a series of deafening booms that reverberated through the passageways. The whole place shook with jolt after jolt as the massive granite blocks came to ground, each crushing the Glee packed into the hall on back into the spiral.

It all happened so suddenly and so swiftly that Richard doubted any of the Glee had enough time to vanish back to their own world. He was pretty sure that every single one of them had been crushed to death instantly as the ceiling of the entire corridor crashed down on top of them. He almost felt sorry for them. Almost.

Kahlan stood in stunned silence beside him, looking at the massive block of stone that now completely filled the corridor, blocking off what had once been beyond. The corridor now had a new dead end, one much closer. Clouds of dust that had been forced out from under the blocks as they fell now filled the passageway, some of it still swirling through the dimly lit air.

The Mord-Sith stared in awe at what had just happened.

Shale turned to him. “How did—”

“Come on,” Richard said, cutting her off. She looked like a thousand questions were bottled up inside her. “We can discuss it later. Right now we need to catch Michec. Stay behind me.”

With that, Richard pushed his way through the knot of Mord-Sith and raced out ahead of all of them.