The Call of Kerberos Part 31

G.o.ds, it was no good. It was like being in the middle of some kind of weird game game.

The only decision she could make came to her unbidden. Fark it.

Kali roared and raced forward, jumping the insubstantial sections of bridge ahead, panting and running on the spot in those places where she needed it to cycle back to some state of stability, throwing herself onto the next column as it rose towards her. As it did she leapt up towards the next bridge, flipped herself onto it and pounded onward, making the next bridge with half a second to spare. Only one to go now, but it was flickering with greater and greater rapidity, but at least there was no dancing column at the end of it, only the ledge that led to the exit. Breachblades whooshing against the air, her own breath heavy in counterpoint, she began to pound along its length. She was going to make it. She was going to- A rockfall obliterated the ledge and the exit. At the same time the bridge flickered out of existence about thirty yards ahead of her. c.r.a.p.

Kali didn't stop running, her mind racing for a solution, eyes scanning the cavern ahead of her for something, anything anything she could use. Then it loomed out of the darkness, and Kali knew it was her only hope. She continued to run and without hesitation leapt out into s.p.a.ce towards it, arms and legs wheeling, hoping fervently that the Breachblades did exactly what they said on the tin. she could use. Then it loomed out of the darkness, and Kali knew it was her only hope. She continued to run and without hesitation leapt out into s.p.a.ce towards it, arms and legs wheeling, hoping fervently that the Breachblades did exactly what they said on the tin.

She thudded into the stalact.i.te with an oof oof, both of the blades held solidly in her hands embedding themselves deeply and effortlessly into the rock.

"Oh, yes!" she cried, elatedly.

Kind of. Because then the blades began to cut down through through the stalact.i.te, and she looked down the length of her body past her feet. Beyond, she saw the last of the bridge flicker away completely, and all around the cavern, the others, too, and beneath where they had been, all there was was the abyss. She was dangling in a blackness alleviated only by the shaft of light now some way behind her, but somehow it managed to pick out the broken body of Slack far below being consumed by something... well, by something horrible. the stalact.i.te, and she looked down the length of her body past her feet. Beyond, she saw the last of the bridge flicker away completely, and all around the cavern, the others, too, and beneath where they had been, all there was was the abyss. She was dangling in a blackness alleviated only by the shaft of light now some way behind her, but somehow it managed to pick out the broken body of Slack far below being consumed by something... well, by something horrible. Okaaay Okaaay, she thought. I've done it again, haven't I? Leapt before I looked. But hey, look on the bright side - at least the sun seemed to be coming up.

The bright side dimmed somewhat as, while she hung there over the abyss, it illuminated her predicament rather too well. Muscles straining to maintain their grip on the Breachblades, they were continuing their work, slowly slicing their way down through the stalact.i.te that had proven to be her saviour. The pressure of the blades in the growth was already proving too much for it and, above her, a half-inch crack suddenly appeared across the horizontal, making a loud, cracking sound in the silence and spewing streams of rock dust into her face. Kali swallowed. Clearly, she couldn't hang around here all day.

As the stalact.i.te jolted and dropped above her - the half inch gap widening to an inch, about to separate at any moment - Kali once more looked up, working out a possible route to safety and determining that the hole through which the light streamed was her only chance. She said her goodbyes to Slack and then, taking a deep breath, folded her legs up so that the soles of her feet rested on the stalact.i.te and then kicked herself off it, maintaining a tight grip on the blades as she somersaulted backward. The stalact.i.te she had left behind broke away, turned end over end through the air and then plummeted to the cavern floor, and Kali grunted as the blades impacted with another, slightly higher stalact.i.te behind her.

"Gahhh!"

It was a precarious series of moves but gradually the hole in the cavern roof drew closer.

Maybe when she reached it she'd be able to find out just what the h.e.l.ls was going on.