The Centipedes gazed at him with many eyes, exuding hunger and curiosity. A vine crept out and touched on the ground before him, where a small amount of his blood formed a pool. After soaking in his blood the vine rose high into the air between the Centipedes, and two long, black, forked tongues emerged from their mouths and crawled through the air. They wormed over the vine, licking at his blood.

  ‘A little mouse, Sister,’ breathed one of them, as its tongue slithered back inside, and it lowered itself and scuttled sideways on hundreds of rustling legs, dozens of eyes twisting and turning to keep him in sight as it circled around.

  ‘A tasty morsel, Brother,’ hissed the other one, slowly swaying from side to side.

  ‘It is tasty, it is, it is.’

  Nicolai remained still, slowly pulling free the mostly-empty magazine from the AA-12, slowly reaching for a fresh one while his gaze flicked between the monsters. The Centipedes were each as big as a bus, and when they raised their tops they towered above him. He moved slowly because he didn’t want to give the impression of aggressive movement, wanted to make it seem he wasn’t doing anything important by reloading. These alien beings shouldn’t understand how guns worked. The thrill was faded to nothing, for there was no point in it, now. If he had to try and fight his way out of this, his odds of him dying were so bad as to be near certainty.

  ‘You… you are an abomination,’ came another voice. The Angel. His speaking drew the gazes of the Centipedes.

  ‘We know that, don’t we, Sister?’ said Brother.

  ‘I don’t think the Denizen speaks of us, Brother,’ said Sister, looking to Nicolai. ‘No… I sense it now.’ The Centipede let out a rattling hiss. ‘A tiny Demon. It bears the stink of… Father?’

  Brother’s body let out rough clacking sounds as the Centipede rubbed its many legs together, slithering closer and closer to Nicolai. ‘It does?’ murmured Brother, leaning down to stare at Nicolai. Its maw was a black pit full of needle teeth, stinking of rotten meat. ‘Can we not eat it?’

  ‘Of course we can eat it. I’m sure Father wouldn’t begrudge us that.’

  The Centipedes looked him over closely, thoughtfully.

  ‘Shall we split it midway, or lengthwise?’

  Nicolai thought fast. Who was Father? He recalled another Centipede, which had also spoken of Father: Paxolnaz. They must be sensing his Contract with the Demon. ‘If you eat me, any part of me, Father will be very unhappy,’ he spoke up. ‘I have a Contract with him.’

  ‘A Contract?’ spoke Brother, and the Centipedes exchanged glances. ‘Do you think it speaks the truth, Sister?’

  ‘It could be, it could be,’ hissed Sister, head bobbing from side to side. ‘But even if so, a little nibble is surely fine.’

  ‘A little nibble?’

  ‘Just a leg or two. And maybe an arm.’ Sister gazed down at him. ‘You don’t need all your limbs, do you, little mouse? You could spare a few.’

  ‘But it has so few already, only four,’ murmured Brother uncertainly.

  ‘I do need my limbs. I need them to move around and do things,’ said Nicolai.

  ‘What about your head, then? You could get by without it, couldn’t you?’ asked Brother.

  ‘I need that most of all.’

  ‘Maybe it’s lying,’ spoke Sister. ‘Why would Father care about some human? Even if they do have a Contract… it is likely just a matter of trade. The little mouse has trespassed here, has it not? Father was clear to us. Any being that trespasses here is ours to do with as we wish.’

  ‘Well said, Sister, well said,’ crowed Brother, and in an instant the Centipede was closer to him than ever. Its great chitinous body swept around him in a loop, trapping him in a circle of insectile bulk, and Brother’s nightmarish face grinned hungrily down at him from above.

  ‘I wouldn’t be at all tasty, anyway,’ argued Nicolai. ‘Look at me. I’ve lived a difficult life. I’m basically all scar tissue. Wouldn’t you rather eat someone tender and young?’

  Brother’s eyes glimmered, and the Centipede’s body rattled as it pulled away from him.

  ‘These words are interesting,’ said Sister, waving a great spiked limb majestically. ‘Say more of them.’

  ‘I imagine you aren’t allowed to leave this place?’

  ‘That’s true, true,’ spoke Brother, nodding.

  ‘But I can. I could go, and bring people back.’

  ‘But wouldn’t you just run away and never return the moment you were away from here?’ said Brother, in a curious tone.

  ‘You have my word I wouldn’t,’ said Nicolai.

  ‘The little mouse gives its word,’ Sister said, and the Centipedes seemed amused.

  ‘Most impressive,’ added Brother.

  Nicolai eyed them, beginning to understand. These Centipedes—to his mind, strange demonic creatures—were not as he’d have expected. They were surprisingly chatty, but he was increasingly sure that they did not intend to let him leave under any circumstances. Their talk of Father was just that… talk. They intended to kill or at least dismember him regardless.

  They were just playing with him, like a cat before the kill. But if nothing else, that meant he had a way in. If they were willing to let him talk, then perhaps he might find a way out of this.

  His eyes moved carefully as he thought, looking for options, trying to work out a way forward. His gaze caught that of the the Angel, which was staring at him.

  ‘Human,’ spoke the Angel. Its voice was a deep, rolling bass, and its face was filled with naked entreaty and desperation. ‘You must kill me. I cannot remain trapped here. Kill me, and I will gift you the information you need. You are being followed by a True Demon, it has designs on your Soul. If you wish to survive, you must—‘ the Angel’s voice cut off as the vines swarmed its body, tearing at it and stopping its mouth.

  ‘The caged bird is noisy today,’ spoke Brother, who had extended a twisted arm and placed a hand on the vines near to the Angel.

  Nicolai stared at the Angel as the vines tore at it. A True Demon with designs on my Soul. There was only one possible culprit. His mind was spinning. It was all becoming clear. The things he’d felt in the hole… and the one controlling them from afar.

  He had thought his Contract with Paxolnaz a done deal, but he realised now he had been foolish to think so. It was a Demon. What did Demons do, in stories? They took the souls of mortals foolish enough to bargain with them. Just as he had done.

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  ‘Why not let him speak?’ he said, and their gazes snapped over to him.

  Brother tilted its head like a curious dog. ‘Why do you want him to speak?’

  ‘The stuff he was saying sounded interesting.’

  ‘No, no,’ crooned Sister, as the Centipede drew away and wrapped itself around the squirming form of the tortured Angel, winding between the vines. ‘They are merely dross. He is dross. Just a piece of energy, wrapped in tattered golden raiment.’

  ‘But his wings are very nice,’ said Brother, and its many eyes were fixed on those wings.

  ‘Yes, yes indeed,’ agreed Sister, pulling away and looking down at the vine wrapped figure. ‘They are quite lovely. It is a shame they only work on him.’

  ‘What do you mean? Why do they only work on him?’ asked Nicolai. So long as he kept them talking, they weren’t eating him.

  ‘Watch, and you will see,’ said Brother. Sister moved aside as Brother’s many legs sent it clicking and clattering around the Angel, where it rose behind its suspended form. Two thick arms ending in great blades extended either side of the Angel, below its wings. They sliced upwards, blurring with speed.

  Golden blood sprayed as the wings were cut away at the base, and immediately Sister grasped them from the air. She swarmed around and placed them on Brother’s back, holding them in position.

  As Nicolai watched, the white, feathered wings, which had been pristine and beautiful even in spite of the blood and vines, began to wither. In moments they had turned dark and rotten, and then they crumbled away entirely.

  ‘Useless,’ hissed Sister, letting the rotted remnants fall.

  ‘But at least, plucking them is good fun,’ added Brother.

  ‘It gets old after a while.’

  ‘It does.’

  ‘They grow back?’ Nicolai asked.

  ‘Every day.’

  ‘When the sun crests the horizon.’

  ‘We used to pluck them the moment they came back.’

  ‘But we grew bored.’

  ‘Why do you want the wings?’ asked Nicolai.

  The pair of nightmarish creatures stared down at him, and in their alien faces he saw something almost recognisable. They looked at him as though he’d spoken the most foolish words they had ever heard.

  ‘We wish to fly,’ said Sister.

  ‘It is the dream of every creature of the ground,’ added Brother. ‘This is widely acknowledged.’

  ‘You agree don’t you, little mouse?’ asked Sister.

  Nicolai couldn’t help but nod. It was a dream of his, too. ‘Of course.’

  ‘Is that why you were arguing with the big bird? Did you wish for its wings?’ asked Brother.

  ‘Yes,’ he said immediately. ‘I can only halfway fly. I don’t have wings, which would allow me to fly properly.’ Nicolai had begun to sense a way through this. With every word he spoke to these creatures, he was fishing for hooks, for ways to manipulate and trick them. He had no concrete plan, he was simply feeling his way. But he was beginning to feel that there was a way.

  ‘You can fly?’

  In an instant the pair had covered half the ground between him and them, their eyes seeming to shine.

  Perhaps I shouldn’t have mentioned that. ‘Only in very limited fashion—halfway, like I said,’ he was quick to amend. ‘In fact, I don’t think I can anymore, not for long.’

  ‘How did you gain this ability?’ asked Brother, its eager gaze boring into him.

  ‘I… stole it from the bird.’ As Nicolai spoke, he heard a distant booming, and glancing behind he saw the bird taking to the air once more, rising into the sky. ‘That bird. In one of our earlier… arguments.’

  ‘Ahhh,’ Sister rattled. ‘Of course.’

  The Centipedes’ eyes followed the bird above, which turned a slow circle at quite a distance from the tower. Its eyes were fixed on Nicolai, full of hate and a hungry desire for his death, but it showed no signs of descending. Nicolai knew why. It was wary of the Centipedes.

  ‘It mocks us, Sister,’ murmured Brother.

  ‘It does indeed. Every day.’

  ‘If only we could bring it down.’

  ‘Would you like help?’ asked Nicolai.

  The pair fixed their gazes on him.

  ‘Little mouse has an idea?’

  ‘A crafty little mousy plot?’

  ‘If I could bring it down onto this tower, would you two be able to handle it?’

  Strange sounds emerged and the Centipedes shifted and swayed, moving in an odd, sibilant dance from side to side. Their terrible faces were split in great grins. They were laughing.

  ‘We would take its wings,’ said Sister.

  ‘And we would fly,’ said Brother.

  As they spoke, Nicolai heard another booming sound, and looked into the distance, frowning. There he saw another great winged being, and his eyes widened. He recognised it.

  Long ago, he’d seen an undead being that resembled a dragon of myth on one of the bridges. It had disappeared shortly after that, and he’d never seen it flying. But there it was, in the distance, flying.

  ‘Another one,’ came the hushed voice of Brother.

  ‘Don’t you just hate them?’

  ‘I do. Every day.’

  Their eyes turned back to Nicolai. ‘How are you going to make the bird come down?’ asked Sister. ‘It never comes near.’

  ‘It doesn’t like us,’ added Brother.

  ‘It wants me,’ said Nicolai. ‘It hates me because I stole some of its power. It hunts me everywhere I go. All you would need to do is hide, and stay near. I will use the last of its stolen power to float off the edge, displaying what I took from it, and it will be so enraged that it will come to me. Then I will retreat back here, luring it to you.’

  The Centipedes rose high into the air and their bodies undulated, swaying side to side with excitement, chitin clacking.

  ‘This will work?’ asked Brother.

  ‘It might work,’ he replied, figuring it was best to manage expectations.

  Their many-eyed gazes turned cool. ‘If it doesn’t work, we will be upset,’ said Brother.

  ‘Overcome with disappointment,’ whispered Sister.

  ‘If that were to happen, we would have to eat little mouse.’

  ‘It would be the only way to feel better.’

  ‘Father would understand.’

  ‘Would he, though?’ asked Nicolai, creasing his face. ‘Are you sure of that?’

  ‘Sure enough,’ hissed Brother. ‘Little mouse had better do as he promised now. We will hide.’

  ‘Wait!’ he cried, and they paused. ‘If I do this for you, I want something.’

  ‘Of course,’ spoke Sister. ‘You wish to be let go, with all your legs and arms. Do not worry, little mouse. If you bring us the bird, we will let you leave.’

  He gazed at the Centipedes. He had very little frame of reference when it came to creatures like this, but even so, he felt that it was speaking the truth. Regardless, while they were busy with the bird, he would have an opportunity to escape.

  But he wanted more than that. This place was important. The Angel was a part of the great puzzle he was facing. It had said that Paxolnaz had designs on his Soul, and with that information much of what he’d experienced recently made sudden sense. He needed to know more. He needed to see what else it had to say.

  ‘There’s something else I want.’

  ‘Oh? Daring, very daring.’

  ‘What is it you wish?’

  ‘I want to speak with the Angel. Just for a minute,’ said Nicolai.

  ‘The angle? The angle of what?’

  ‘The Denizen, I mean,’ he corrected himself.

  ‘We are not meant to let it talk with people,’ said Brother.

  ‘It is forbidden,’ added Sister.

  ‘Sure, I can understand that. If you let it talk for too long, who knows what could happen? But surely a minute wouldn’t hurt, and that’s all I ask,’ said Nicolai.

  ‘How long is a minute?’ asked Brother.

  ‘Not long, not long. Just a little nibble,’ said Sister.

  ‘Barely anything. No time at all, really,’ said Nicolai. ‘And in return, you’ll get the bird and its wings.’

  ‘The little mouse is right. One minute cannot hurt,’ the Centipedes murmured to one another. ‘We will hide now.’

  The pair did as promised, winding away and settling into the vines. Nicolai watched them carefully, trying to keep them in his eyes, but after only a moment their forms had simply faded away, becoming one with the vines and the tower-top. Just as with the other Centipede, he couldn’t even sense their Souls or Soul Senses, though he was sure they possessed such. These things were freakishly good at hiding.

  I am analysing their patterns and methods, said Threat Analysis. If we can see how they hide for a little longer, I may be better able to pick them out in the future.

  ‘We will be close,’ hissed a voice, worming around the area. ‘And don’t try to talk to the Denizen, not until you complete your task.’ As the Centipede said this, Nicolai saw the vines surge around the Angel until the being was hidden within them.

  He took a slow breath, and turned around, stepping through the vines. He headed over to the edge of the towertop, and peered down.

  Below, he saw some changes. The bugs were now all over the upper jungle, as were the undead. Many dozens of battles, some great, some small, were strewn across the area. From this height it looked like a battle between two rival ant colonies. In the distance, he saw the undead dragon had landed amidst hundreds of bugs and was stomping with its feet, tearing with its claws, biting with its great mouth, and its tail of bone sliced around. No fire breath, though, which made something inside Nicolai slightly disappointed.

  Closer, at the base of the tower, he saw a pile of dead bugs outside the entrance at the bottom. He reached out over Link, and was able to establish a connection to the others.

  Nicolai? You’re alive? it was Daksh, who must be using his broadcast arm to help him reach Nicolai.

  I’m alive. How are things down there?

  We’re all okay. We’re stuck here at the bottom, though, the stairway upwards is collapsed. But at least the bugs have stopped coming, they’re fighting the dead.

  Nicolai nodded. Good, he said. Stay there.

  What are you doing up there? asked Daksh, but Nicolai ignored him, cutting the connection.

  His eyes now turned to the bird, flying above. He could feel its gaze, its hunger.

  Nicolai stepped off the ledge, activating his Pegasi ring, and he floated into the air. Then he took aim with his AA-12, and let off a spray of rounds at the bird above.

  A scream of rage answered his challenge, and in an instant the bird was diving through the air toward him.