The Forbidden Mountains rose from the earth like a cracked spine. No trees grew on their lower slopes, only gray scree and twisted bushes that had turned to stone long ago. The wind carried no bird calls, no insect hum. Just a low, constant moan that seemed to come from the rock itself.

Lucien pulled on his horse’s reins and stopped at the base of the first true incline. Zuri halted beside him. Zeph was a few paces back, his hand resting on the hilt of his Ngulu sword.

The hiss came from somewhere ahead, beyond a ridge of black basalt. It was not loud, but it cut through the wind like a blade. A long, slow exhale of air from something large.

MonoValith’s scent reached them a moment later. It smelled like old blood, sulfur, and the wet rot of a swamp floor. The odor was so strong that Zuri’s horse stamped its hooves and pulled against the bit.

"It’s close," Zuri said. Her voice was low. She looked at Lucien. "Should we sprinkle the Viper’s Banefire? Lure it out of whatever hole it’s hiding in?"

Lucien shook his head. He kept his eyes on the ridge. "No. If we use that now, it will smell the powder and run deeper into the mountains. Then we lose the tracks for good. We chased it for days from the village. I’m not doing it again."

Zeph turned in his saddle. His face was pale but steady. "What form do you think it will take this time? In the village, there was a large lizard. Seven heads. Each one is as big as a horse."

Zuri shrugged. "Could be a snake with seven heads. It had scales like a snake’s. Or maybe something with legs again. We won’t know until we see it."

Lucien dismounted. His boots crunched on the gravel. "It doesn’t matter what shape it wears. Remember the plan. Cut the manus first. Then the heads. Don’t let it wrap around you. Don’t let the teeth touch skin."

Zuri and Zeph climbed down from their horses. They tied the animals to a dead thorn bush.

Lucien unslung the two swords from his back. They were plain steel, double-edged, the hilts wrapped in black leather. He checked each blade, ran his thumb along the edge, then slid them back into the sheaths crossing his spine.

Zuri pulled her two Gayang swords free. The curved blades glinted in the light. She tested the grip of each, then returned them to the scabbards on her back.

Zeph drew his Ngulu sword. The single-edged blade was broad and heavy, meant for chopping. He then reached down and pulled two knives from the straps on his boots. The blades were six inches long, sharpened to a needle point. He slid them back into the leather sheaths sewn into the sides of his boots.

They formed a circle in a small clearing between two smaller boulders.

Lucien pulled a glass bottle from his belt pouch. The liquid inside was black, thick as syrup. Zeph did the same. Zuri did not carry an elixir. Her magic worked differently.

Lucien held his bottle up to the sky. He spoke the words they recognized, the ones used by the hunters.

"By bone and blood, by tooth and nail. By the earth that bears us and the dark that waits. I do not ask for victory. I ask only to stand when something else falls."

Zuri closed her eyes. She pressed a hand to her chest and spoke her fox spell, the one her grandmother had taught her before the older woman died.

"Veyra shun, tora ven. Rukh dai sen var’ka lon. Thrae vel kor. Thrae vel syn. Mira esh tal venya—sai rukh ven drae."

Fire that runs, earth that turns. Blood that knows the path through stone. Let the shape hold let the hand strike true. Let the fear oass through me like wind through a dead tree.

Then Lucien swallowed the elixir in one long gulp. Zeph coughed once, then forced the rest down.

For three heartbeats, nothing happened. Then the veins on Lucien’s face rose to the surface of his skin. Black lines spread from his jaw to his temples, from his neck down into his collar. His lips darkened. Zeph’s face did the same. The lines were thinner on him, but they pulsed once, twice, then settled.

Zuri watched them. Her own face remained unchanged. Such elixirs have never really worked on her kind.

Lucien met Zeph and Zuri’s eyes. He nodded once. They nodded back. Then they turned toward the ridge.

The way they ran was neither human nor wolf. It was faster. Lucien’s first step covered ten feet. His second covered fifteen. He moved with a low, forward lean, arms pumping, head steady. Zeph matched his pace. Their breathing was shallow, controlled. Behind them, Zuri ran on lighter feet. She did not have the elixir’s strength, but her strides were longer than any ordinary woman’s.

They reached the ridge in less than a minute. Lucien did not slow. He jumped onto a boulder, pushed off, and landed on the other side. Zeph followed. Zuri climbed over the rock and dropped down.

The cave mouth was a few feet ahead. It was a black crack in the side of the mountain, wide enough for more than five horses to pass side by side. The hiss came from inside. It was louder now.

Darkness filled the cave. No light reached more than two feet inside.

Zuri stepped forward. She raised both hands, palms facing the cave. The air around her fingers grew hot. Small sparks appeared, then grew into flames. Three fireballs formed in front of her, each the size of a man’s head. She thrust her hands forward. The fireballs flew into the cave.

They pulled out their blades. They went in, following the fireballs as each one illuminated the cave.

The pathway tunnel sloped downward. The walls were wet with something that glistened. Stalactites hung from the ceiling like stone teeth.

And far off to the extreme wall, MonoValith was coiled around a pillar of rock.

The fireballs had not hurt it. But they had woken it fully. The hiss became a roar from seven throats at once.

The monster had taken the form of a snake. Its body was thick as an old oak tree, covered in scales that shone like wet oil. But the heads were not snake heads. Seven human heads sat on seven long necks. The faces were distorted beyond recognition. Skin pulled too tight. Eyes yellow and slit-pupiled. Teeth that had grown into fangs, long as daggers, dripping drool that steamed when it hit the stone floor.

The necks moved independently. Some stretched forward. Some turned to look at the fireballs. Some turned toward the cave entrance. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

From the body, multiple manus extended. They were long, boneless appendages tipped with claws the size of scythe blades. The monster had at least eight of them that Lucien could see. Maybe more hidden beneath its coils. A tail extended from the rear of the body. It was thin compared to the rest of the creature’s parts, but it ended in a thorn of bone three feet long.

Each movement of the monster produced a different sound from each of its heads. One head hissed—another gurgled. A third laughed, a high, dry sound that had no humor in it. The others made noises without a name.

One of the fireballs hit the far wall and died.

Lucien stopped walking. Zeph was two steps behind him. Zuri followed, her hands already sparking again. She created more fireballs.

The smell inside was worse than outside. The sulfur and rot were thick enough to taste. The drool from the heads had pooled on the floor, and the stone was corroded where it touched the floor.

MonoValith sensed them. One of its manus shot forward. The claw swept across the tunnel at waist height.

All three of them dropped into a crouch. The claw passed over their heads. Lucien came up swinging. His right sword sliced into the manus just behind the claw. The blade cut through scale and muscle. The manus fell to the floor. Black blood sprayed from the stump.

The monster let out a sound. All seven heads shrieked at once. The sound was so loud that it shook the walls of the cave. The heads turned toward the wound, then toward the attackers.