The growls below were getting closer.
The sounds were not the same.Claws scraping on stone.Wet footsteps.Breathing filled with hunger.
Eray grabbed Junia's arm and pulled her along.
She was heavy.Her armor dragged her down.So did her despair.
"We have to move," Eray said.
His voice was rough.The metallic taste of blood was still in his mouth.His black hair was soaked with sweat and stuck to his forehead.
He was only sixteen.But his body felt a hundred years old.
His bones ached.His muscles protested with every step.
Junia clenched her teeth.
She tried to push herself with her good leg, but every movement was pain.When she lifted her head, her red hair fell over her shoulders.
Despite the dust, dirt, and dried blood, her nineteen-year-old face was still sharp and striking.
But in this land, beauty was not an advantage.It only made monsters hungrier.
"Leave me," Junia said between breaths."They can smell me.They smell the blood."
Eray did not stop.
"If I leave you, I lose the compass," he said."And without it, I can't find my way."
"Makes sense," Junia muttered with a bitter smile."Heartless bastard."
They found a narrow passage between the rocks.
Two massive stone blocks leaned together, forming a dark tunnel barely wide enough for one person.
"There," Eray said.
He pushed Junia toward the entrance and followed her inside.
It was dim, but not completely dark.The red sun's light slipped through the cracks.
The sounds below were very close now.
Junia grabbed her broken leg.
Fresh blood was leaking from where the bone had pierced the skin.
"I need to hide the smell," she said.
Eray looked at her."Do you still have strength for magic?"
"Not for fighting," Junia replied.
She plunged her hand into the wound.Her fingers were covered in warm blood.
She closed her eyes and whispered.
The blood trembled at her fingertips.This time, it did not scatter.
There was light. Weak, but enough.The blood obeyed her will, barely.
She smeared it onto the stones at the tunnel entrance.
"Rotten blood," she whispered."Not fresh.Dead.Poisoned."
The magic changed the scent.
The tunnel no longer smelled like fresh prey.It smelled like a corpse that had been rotting for weeks.
Eray pressed his back against the cold stone.
He held his breath.
The first shadow reached the entrance.
The creature looked like the one Eray had stabbed earlier, but smaller.It walked on four legs.
It pushed its head into the tunnel.
Eray gripped the dagger tightly.
If it came inside, they had no chance in this narrow space.
The creature sniffed the air.Drool dripped from its vertical mouth.
Then it hissed.
It did not like the smell.
It pulled its head back and climbed up the rocks.
The others followed.
The growls and claw sounds passed over the tunnel and moved higher, farther away.
When silence returned, Eray finally breathed out.
Junia leaned her head back.
The spell had drained her completely.Her face was no longer pale.
It was gray.
"They didn't find us," Eray said."But they're going up. Why?"
Junia did not answer.
Her eyes were half closed.
Eray looked toward the tunnel exit.
From there, he could see the valley clearly.
The place the Raiders called a Death Zone was not just a land full of monsters.
The obsidian towers on the horizon…
They seemed to move.
No.The towers were not moving.
The air around them was.
Eray narrowed his eyes.
Something was wrong.
The monsters were not climbing up to hunt them.
They were running away from the valley.
"Junia," Eray said. His voice was tense."We need to move."
"I can't… I need to rest."
"You can't rest."
Eray grabbed her shoulder and shook her.
"There's something in the valley.Something that even scares those monsters."
From deep inside the tunnel, behind them, a metallic click echoed.
Eray and Junia froze.
The sound did not come from outside.Not from the monsters.
It came from inside the tunnel.From the darkness they were hiding in.
"Raiders," a calm, smooth, human voice said."What terrible luck… to find you alive."