The floor of the Pit was uneven. My boots slipped on something wet—blood or slime, I didn't look. The sound of a hundred scratching claws against the stone followed me. It was a tide of darkness. These things weren't just animals. No animal laughs when it sees its brother burn. They were demons in fur.
I ducked under a low hanging rock. A black shape swung from a vine, its long fingers grazing my hair. I didn't stop. I couldn't. If I stayed still for more than a second, they'd be all over me like ants on a piece of sugar.
"Come on then!" I yelled. My lungs felt like they were on fire.
A large monkey, bigger than the rest, dropped right in front of me. It didn't giggle. It stood tall, its white face split by a grin that showed too many teeth. It reached out and grabbed my arm. The strength was unbelievable. I felt my bone groan under the pressure.
I didn't panic. I slammed my forehead into its white face. There was a sickening crack. The monkey staggered back, clutching its nose, and I used that second to shove it off the ledge into the darkness below. It didn't scream as it fell. It just hissed.
The others were closing in. They weren't jumping anymore. They were crawling, belly-to-the-ground, their pale eyes fixed on my throat. I felt a cold sweat running down my back. I reached for my last few fire pots.
"You want a piece of me?" I muttered, my breath coming in short, jagged gasps. "Take it."
I smashed two vials against a nearby pillar. The orange flame roared to life, creating a wall between me and the swarm. The monkeys backed away, their faces twisted in rage. They hated the light. They hated the heat.
I used the distraction to slip into a side tunnel. It was narrow, barely wide enough for my shoulders. I crawled on my hands and knees, my heart hammering against my ribs. I could hear them scratching at the entrance, their long arms reaching in, trying to snag my heels.
I kept moving until the tunnel opened into a small chamber. It was quiet here. Too quiet. I sat against the wall, my chest heaving. I looked at my arm. It was purple and swollen.
"Great," I whispered. "Just great."
I pulled out the dried meat Aranya had given me. It tasted like salt and dust, but it gave me something to focus on. I wasn't dead yet. That was a start.
I looked around the chamber. In the center, sitting on a pile of bones, was something that didn't belong. It was a small, wooden doll. It looked like a child's toy, but its eyes were made of the same pale, glowing stone as the monkeys' eyes.
I felt a shiver that had nothing to do with the cold. The Black Pit wasn't just a hole. It was a playground for things that hated the sun. And I was the newest toy.
I reached out to touch the doll, but stopped myself. My fingers hovered inches away from the wood. It felt warm. In a place like this, warmth was a warning.
I looked at the doll's face. It was carved to look like it was crying. A single drop of that glowing stone was embedded in its cheek like a tear. My stomach twisted. I didn't want to be here anymore. I didn't want the gold. I just wanted the sky.
But the sky was miles of rock above me.
I looked back at the tunnel I came from. The scratching had stopped. That was worse. Silence meant they were thinking. It meant they were finding another way in. I grabbed the doll and shoved it into my pack. I didn't know why. Maybe I just didn't want it looking at me.
I stood up, my joints groaning. My arm was useless, hanging by my side like a dead weight. I looked at the only other exit in the room—a small hole in the floor that led straight down.
"Down it is," I said.
I slid into the hole. It was like a slide, smooth and cold. I picked up speed, the wind whistling in my ears. I didn't know where I was going, and I didn't care. Anything was better than the giggling in the dark.
I hit a pile of soft sand at the bottom. I scrambled to my feet, looking around. This part of the Pit was different. There were carvings on the walls—old, ancient things that showed people bowing down to a giant black monkey with a thousand eyes.
A shadow moved at the edge of my vision. I turned, but there was nothing there. Just the walls.
"I see you," I said. My voice was raspy.
A figure stepped out from behind a pillar. It wasn't a monkey. It was a man. He was wearing the rags of a Thonburi soldier, but his skin was grey and his eyes were gone. In their place were two of those glowing stones.
He tilted his head, just like the monkeys did. He opened his mouth, and instead of words, a giggle came out.
I realized then that the monkeys weren't the only ones who had changed in the dark.