Chasing Evil by Adam Blade Page A

into his neighbor.
    â€œYou fool!” he said.
    Tanner lunged, slicing his blade downward across the guard’s face, opening up a long cut. Screaming, the injured guard clutched his face and stumbled backward. Gwen went down on one knee beneath an overhead blow, pulled out an ax from her belt, and buried the blade in the soldier’s thigh. Only one enemy remained.
    â€œThe odds look better now, don’t they?” said Tanner.
    The last soldier looked at his own sword unsurely.
    â€œIf I let you go —” he started to offer.
    â€œDon’t you mean if we let you go?” Tanner asked. He could hardly believe how calm his own voice sounded. I’m learning how to do this.
    The man looked from Tanner to Gwen. She flicked back her cloak, and he spotted two other axes lined up in her belt, waiting to be used.
    â€œI — I …” the man stuttered. He looked at Tanner, his eyes pleading. Then he turned and ran into the darkness.
    â€œAfter him!” yelled Gwen.
    Tanner and his friend sprinted along the tunnel, but the man had a head start and was soon out of sight. Tanner glanced around. This is the way Gor left. They caught up with other fleeing soldiers, who cast fearful glances back. Tanner heard the sudden pounding of hooves, and General Gor crashed into the guards on his black stallion. A man crumpled beneath the horse’s hooves; the sound of his ribs cracking reverberated off the tunnel walls.
    Gor rode on without breaking stride. Riding Varlot. There was a flicker of intelligence in the stallion’s eyes as he passed, but no sign of him morphing into his Beast self.
    Tanner and Gwen watched Gor galloping away. The two pieces of the mask bounced by his side, dangling from his leather belt. Tanner knew it was pointless to go after him; he couldn’t outrun such a powerful Beast.
    â€œWe have to find Geffen,” he said, pointing the way Gor had come.
    As he spoke, a terrible sound echoed down the tunnel. It sounded like the roar of rocks being crunched against one another. Above came the high-pitched begging of Gwen’s brother. “Please, no! Please!”
    Tanner and Gwen ran until they saw the figure of Gor’s last soldier standing and peering over a rocky balcony. He was watching something below and didn’t hear Tanner’s approach until he was almost on him. As he turned, Tanner charged with Gwen, and they both pushed the guard over the ledge. He toppled, feetfirst, with a scream.
    Tanner looked over and watched the guard slide down a steep, dusty slope fifteen paces high, and scramble up at the bottom. He immediately tried to climb up again, but the slope was sheer and he couldn’t get a grip. Geffen was at the bottom, too, crouched in a ball and whimpering. Tanner gasped when he realized what they were both so afraid of. The Troiden.
    From the dark shadows opposite, a shape emerged. The Beast was like a huge slug, pulsing with muscle. His thick, leathery skin was the same gray and black color as the rock. The creature’s face, if you could call it that, consisted of twenty or so stubby tentacles, each ending with a mouth lined with triangular teeth opening and closing, searching for prey. In the center of the tentacle-mouths was a bulbous disk the size of Tanner’s head, opalescent like the surface of a pearl. An eye!
    The Troiden butted into the wall of the cavern, and several of his jaws clamped onto the rocks. Tanner heard the grinding noise once more, and saw the teeth sink into the rock, crushing it into showers of dust. Now Tanner understood what had made the marks on the tunnel walls — indeed, what had made all the tunnels. This Earth Beast was made for mining.
    â€œHelp me!” shouted the soldier, scrambling up. “Please, don’t let him get me!”
    The Troiden backed away, then came forward once more: slowly and deadly, feeling its way. Tanner realized why the Troiden wasn’t moving straight toward