Tex vividly remembered how the dirt had closed up, smothering Bankim’s screams.

  He clenched his fists. “Bankim!”

  Utu’s eyes burned with anger. “I didn’t see his face, but I agree … It looked like him.”

  Tex swallowed thickly. “And where did…” The words caught in his throat; he was pretty sure he already knew the answer.

  “Where did he take her?”

  “The same place he came from,” Utu said.

  Zila grabbed Tex’s arm, pulling him. “I show you! Hole in ground!”

  “Alright,” Tex said, following Zila and the others.

  He looked over his shoulder at Steelfarr and his mates, who stood close by. “My axe!”

  “Lord Tex!” one of them said, running off.

  “I almost went down after them, Lord Tex!” Steelfarr said suddenly, elbowing past people and jogging by Tex’s side.

  “I climbed down the hole, but it was pitch dark, and I heard a monstrous growling.

  “It was so deep and loud that it shook the ground. But … I— I’ll come with you, if you need volunteers!”

  Running through the village, they came to a hole in the ground not far from the gate. Broden stood by with a number of other men.

  He strode forward. “Tex! I… I’m sorry…”

  “I’ve heard,” Tex said, peering into the hole.

  “I wasn’t here when it happened,” Broden said, anger grinding in his voice. “I was down on the beach.”

  “Don’t blame yourself,” Tex said. “There’s nothing you could’ve done.”

  Broden cleared his throat. “You heard about the Dargild as well?”

  Tex looked at him. “What about it?”

  Broden swallowed. “He took it.”

  “I saw it happen!” Miss Weevol piped in.

  She’d been hovering at Tex’s elbow. “He was roving around, looking for Neesha — I’m sure of that. It was like he came here specifically to take her. But when he passed Broden’s hut he stopped, and he said, ‘You have Dargild.’

  “Then the hut just… exploded, and the Dargild stones floated out and came right towards him, and they just … disappeared into his chest.”

  Tex grimaced, trying to process Weevol’s strange account.

  The young bachelor sprinted back with Tex’s axe. Tex took it, then tapped his belt and pouch, making sure his rock and throwing daggers were there.

  “When did all this happen?” he said.

  “Not long before you got back,” Yarolk replied.

  This gave Tex a shred of hope. Maybe Bankim hadn’t gone far. He stepped towards the hole. “I have to get moving.”

  “I’ll come with you,” Broden said.

  “Me too!” Steelfarr shouted, rushing forward. A number of his bachelors also eagerly volunteered.

  Tex looked at them. “No. I need you all to stay here. We’ve just seen the fleet. The Necromancer has 18 ships and perhaps 700 Skrillings.

  “They should reach our shores by this evening. But, still, I have to go down there—”

  “You know, it may be a trap,” Yarolk said.

  “Doesn’t matter,” Tex said grimly. “I have to get Neesha back. And, even if he didn’t have her, I’d still have to recover the Dargild. Our entire plan goes out the window without that.”

  He glanced around at the men. “I need you all here. Continue preparing. I’ll return soon.”

  “Wait, Tex,” Emi said, running up and panting for breath.

  She carried her bow and had a quiver of arrows slung over her shoulder. She must have run to her hut to fetch them.

  “I’m coming with you,” she said, running in front of him and blocking his path.

  A look of horror came onto Tex’s face. “You are certainly not.”

  “Yes, I am, Tex. You don’t know what Neesha means to me. I … I can’t lose her.”

  She turned and squatted near the hole, daintily extending one foot into the darkness.

  Tex grabbed her arm, pulling her up. “Emi, you’re not coming.”

  Utu, Zila, and Bmimi came to Tex’s side, and he thought they were going to conduct Emi safely away from the hole.

  They didn’t.

  Instead, they hovered at his elbows, watching him like they wanted to say something.

  Emi’s eyes filled with tears. But her lip straightened into a line of determination.

  “I am coming! I have to! How else will you even find Neesha? And even if you did find her, you’d never find your way back!”

  Tex gritted his teeth. It was a good point. How would he find his way?

  Maybe the tunnel is just a straight line, he told himself. I’ll follow it until I reach Bankim. Then I’ll just come back the way I came.

  Emi squeezed his forearm. “I can lead us to Neesha, Tex.”

  He looked at her. “How?”

  “It’s part of my magic; I’ll be able to sense her down there. She’ll be like a beacon to me, but for you, she’ll be invisible.

  “You won’t know which way to go. You’ll get lost in the labyrinth of the Underworld and you’ll never come out!”

  Maybe Tex’s face softened, because Bmimi suddenly clawed his arm.

  “I’ll come, too,” she said. “You need my night vision and my hearing, and… and my stealth abilities!”

  Of course, Utu and Zila immediately jumped in, too, insisting that they also had to come along.

  Tex glanced back and saw little Grendel, a forlorn look on her face.

  She was terrified she was about to lose all the people she loved.

  No, it wouldn’t do. Emi made the strongest argument, and Bmimi had an excellent case, too. But the others would have to stay.

  “No,” Tex said firmly, putting his hands on Utu and Zila’s shoulders.

  “There’s no use in risking almost all of our lives. You two stay here with Grendel.”

  “But Tex—”

  “That’s final. I don’t have time to argue.”

  It was harsh, but necessary. Every second that passed made his temples pound even harder. That very moment, Neesha was in the arms of a zombie rapist, being carried deeper and deeper into hell.

  Even as Kdar Tol’s fleet of ships were cutting through the waves, bent on laying waste to Fimm and destroying what remained of the Aramantha people.

  Tex picked up Emi and pushed off the ground, floating over the hole. He descended into the darkness, his eyes adjusting to the cold shadows.

  His feet came to the muddy ground, and he saw a narrow tunnel sloping downwards. A faint, red light diluted the darkness somewhat.

  Bmimi’s slender form leapt down from above, landing gracefully beside Tex as he set Emi down on her feet.

  Voices carried down from above.

  “Good luck, Lord Tex!”

  “May the gods aid you!”

  Chapter fifty-nine

  NOBODY SPOKE AS they descended deeper and deeper into the tunnel. The smell of dirt was strong in Tex’s nostrils.

  This must be what the dead feel like when they’re buried, he thought.

  Strangely, though, the walls gradually broadened out, and a moist breeze blew over them.

  “That’s strange,” Tex said. “It smells like rain.”

  “There’s water nearby,” Bmimi said, sniffing the air. “Lots of it.”

  “The Underworld has many lakes,” Emi said. “Those who have been there and returned have spoken of them.”

  “We have to hurry,” Tex said, speeding up, but he slipped on the slick dirt. He staggered but regained his footing.

  “Be careful,” Emi said. “You don’t know when you’re going to encounter a steep fall.”

  Tex looked around in surprise, straining his eyes in the darkness. He still felt as though they were in a claustrophobia-inducing tunnel, but the landscape was changing.

  The walls widened even more, and he craned his neck back to see a high cave ceiling.

  “Shit,” he whispered. “Where is she?”

  “They were here,” Emi said. “I sense them.”

  “But do you know where she is now?”

  “I … don’t know the location, exactly. But I can tell the direction we must go.”

  Some time later, Tex started seeing the landscape in more detail; the darkness seemed to dissipate slightly.

  Everything was dimly lit by a twilight glow. The terrain reminded Tex of a mountainscape above the treeline: gray, barren, treacherous.

  Astonishingly, when they reached the end of the tunnel, they emerged onto a rocky ledge that overlooked a vast, open space.

  Down below, a lake stretched out, disappearing from view on either side and stretching out ahead until it blended into the gloom.

  Its waters were tumultuous, buffeted by strong winds, and the shoreline was rocky and desolate.

  Bmimi’s ears pointed forward, alert. Her tail bristled. She pulled an arrow from her quiver and nocked it.

  Tex scanned the landscape below. “Is she here?”

  Emi pressed her fingers into her temples and peered down at the water, her eyes tracing the shore.

  “She … was here. We have to go that way!”

  She pointed down a steep slope of loose rocks, which led down to the lakeshore.

  They made their way down. Bmimi, being the most agile, got to the bottom first. As soon as her feet landed lightly on the ground, a growl rumbled as deep and loud as a motorcycle.

  Bmimi got such a start that she leapt into the air, landing on a boulder.

  A monstrous creature appeared from around the corner. With the claws of a bear and the head of a demonic wolf, the beast stalked towards Bmimi, baring its fangs.

  Tex bounded down the hill, raising his axe — but he recognized the monster as the hellhound he’d encountered in the Dark Forest.

  He’d often thought about the hound since then; it was the only reason they survived their fight with the demons. If the beast hadn’t intervened and chased them back into their holes, Tex and the others would have been dead.

  He remembered how the beast had shown subservience towards him.

  “Hey, boy,” he said. “It’s me, Tex. You remember me, right?”

  The hellhound threw its head back and let out a series of barks. Its tone sounded indignant, as if it was personally offended by their presence.

  “It knows we aren’t supposed to be here,” Emi said.

  The hound turned its head towards Tex, growling ferociously and baring its teeth.

  Tex inched closer. “Hey, hey, hey,” he said coaxingly, holding out his hand. “It’s me. Don’t you remember?”

  The hound reluctantly took a couple of sniffs.

  Its tail wagged twice, and it pointed its snout forward, sniffing more deliberately.

  “Yeah,” Tex said. “You remember, don’t you?”

  Tex slowly moved towards the beast, reaching out to pat it. But it threw its head back.

  “Rarararoooooo!” it complained.

  Tex patted its massive head. “I know, boy, I know.”

  Its tail began wagging more vigorously as Tex stroked its fur and scratched behind its ears.

  “You’re just a big softy.”

  The hound’s forehead creased, and it smiled awkwardly, tongue hanging out. It whimpered.

  “Don’t worry, boy. We aren’t staying long.”

  Emi came forward and held out her hand. The hound looked at it doubtfully and sniffed it.

  He seemed to go through an internal struggle for a few seconds. But his tail started wagging, and his enormous tongue came out and bathed Emi’s hand in saliva.

  Emi patted him . “Don’t worry. We won’t stay long.” She looked at Tex. “The hellhound is a creature of boundaries. He attends to the space between the Underworld and the world of the living.

  “It’s in his nature to keep things in their proper place. That’s why he’s upset we’re here. ”

  Tex nodded. “You’re a little obsessive-compulsive, eh boy?”

  He slapped the hound’s flank several times. The beast suddenly stretched out and scrunched its mouth into a funny grimace.

  “You like that, eh Jeff?” Tex said, still slapping the hound’s side.

  “Jeff?” Emi said.

  “He reminds me of my buddy, Jeff. So that’s what I’m calling him.”

  The hound accepted his new name with a wag of his tail. He smiled and panted, his tongue hanging out.

  Emi stroked Jeff’s head. “He likes you … That’s really good. He’s a powerful ally.”

  She looked up at the cat girl, who was still perched atop the boulder, her ears flat against her head.

  “You can come down, Bmimi. Jeff won’t hurt you.”

  Bmimi looked at Emi in disgust. “I am not coming down until that thing goes away.”

  Jeff suddenly stopped panting and looked up at Bmimi, ears pointing forward. He tilted his head and moaned.

  Tex frowned at Bmimi. “Don’t insult him. He’s on our side. Now, come on, let’s get moving.”

  The cat girl reluctantly leapt off the boulder and followed Tex and Emi onto the rocky shore of the river.

  “It’s this way,” Emi said, pointing left across the length of the beach. Tex could see a distant trail climbing up and disappearing between giant boulders.

  That far away?

  “Alright, let’s run.”

  He glanced over his shoulder and saw that the hellhound was still in the same spot, and he was sitting.

  “Coming?”

  The hound looked at them with a wrinkled brow.

  “Alright, suit yourself.”

  Tex jogged along the shore, Emi and Bmimi following behind him. Looking over the lake, it seemed as big as the sea, and the water roiled. Tex had the feeling he’d never be able to get out if he fell in.

  A moment later, he saw something writhing in the waves. A pair of arms, a head. Then he saw another one.

  “What the hell?”

  Tex gaped at the water. The longer he looked, the more figures he noticed. He couldn’t call them people; they were more like shadows of people.

  They were in the shallows, so they should have been able to get out. And yet, they seemed to be stuck, perpetually drowning.

  Tex looked away, shaking his head with revulsion. “What’s going on there? A lake of the damned or something?”

  “Yes,” Emi said, running alongside Tex. “They’re men and women who went down the wrong path in life. Now they’re doomed to suffer an eternity of regret.”

  Tex rolled his eyes. “Good Lord.”

  “It’s so unfair,” Bmimi said. “I never understood why the gods would make life that way.”

  “They didn’t make it that way,” Emi said. “And it’s not about what’s fair. It’s simply how the universe works.”

  Tex looked at Emi. “I didn’t know you were such a philosopher.”

  Emi kept her eyes on the ground, stepping around the loose rocks. In response to Tex, she recited a few lines of verse:

  Halfway through the journey of life

  I found myself lost, alone in the wilderness.

  For I had strayed from the straightforward path

  “What’s that from?” Tex said.

  “Bip.”

  “Bip?”

  “Yes. It’s the first stanza in his poem about the Underworld.”

  Tex nodded. “Of course. Good ol’ Bip.”

  He glanced over his shoulder. The hellhound was still sitting in the same spot, watching them.

  “Jeff really doesn’t want us to keep going.”

  Finally, they came to the thin trail that sloped up between massive boulders. Following it to the top, Tex found that it actually descended into yet another tunnel.

  He glanced at Emi. “Down there?”

  The elf nodded.

  “Alright.”

  Before heading down, Tex looked back across the beach. Jeff was trotting towards them, looking rather crotchety.

  Following the steep trail, they descended into the darkness of the tunnel and had to rely on Bmimi to lead the way.

  But the darkness soon dissipated. Everything was suffused in dull red light, and Tex could see the trail leading down to a rocky bottom.

  As they neared the bottom of the trail, a sweltering breeze rushed through the tunnel, as if a giant oven had just been opened.

  Tex wiped sweat from his forehead. “It’s getting a little toasty down here.”

  Reaching the end of the tunnel, they emerged on a plateau that overlooked a smoldering, volcanic landscape.

  A blazing river of molten lava stretched out before them. Giant tongues of flames shot upwards. The air quivered. Fire thundered and crackled.

  And behind that fearful noise, Tex could hear inhuman shrieking and screaming.

  That’s when he noticed winged creatures flying in the air. They were scorched like charcoal, and their bat-like wings were torn and scarred.

  Some of them were even stuck in the lava, writhing and screaming. Others sat on little rocky islands, nursing their wounds and kicking other demons back into the lava whenever they tried to crawl out.

  Bmimi looked more spooked and irritated than Tex had ever seen her.

  Her ears were pointing back so far that they stretched her face, giving her a dour expression. Her tail stuck out stiffly behind her, and its fur was all spiked out.

  Emi glanced around urgently. Her blonde hair was already stuck to her forehead from perspiration. Suddenly, her eyes widened, and she pointed across the lake.

  “Over there!” she cried, jumping up and down. “That’s where Neesha is!”

  Tex looked across the enormous, fiery river in the direction that Emi had pointed.

  Far away, on the opposite bank, he saw pillars of rock standing near the shore. Behind them was a small hill of scorched rock. And carved into that rock, there appeared to be a doorway.

  Tex looked at Emi. “Do I see a door there?” he said, pointing.

  Emi nodded, “Yes.”

  “And that’s where we have to go?”

  Emi winced. “I’m afraid so.”

  Tex surveyed the river of lava. There appeared to be only one way to get across. He would have to fly. But that was a dangerous prospect.

  To fly, he needed earth. Fire was an entirely different element, almost as light as air. If he couldn’t fly over water, he doubted he could do it over flames.

  He gritted his teeth. “Come on. Let’s go check it out.”