The Obelisk

-Chapter 57-

Stone bricks fell one by one, collapsing onto the floor of the hall. The first Terror bird soldier snarled and jumped back from the debris—flapping her wings as she scrabbled to get out of the way.

Moonlight poured into the dark halls as the crumbling stone bricks revealed the outside world.

The rune glowed even brighter—and more sections of the hall caved in—falling all around the second soldier, so much that it blocked him from Forest and the others.

This is our chance, Forest thought, glancing around.

More of the hall collapsed, and Forest realized that there was still a way out.

“Go, go, go!” Bramble roared, shoving Forest and Rust down a part of the hall. They fell forward as Bramble pounced passed them, and the escaping group of carnivores ran for their lives.

“Don’t let them escape!” The first soldier was struggling to climb over a wall of collapsed bricks, grappling the stone with her talons and wings. Forest spotted another group of soldiers entering form the the other side of the hall. They screeched loudly and began the chase.

Terrified, Forest ran as fast as he could. Coal and Rust were ahead of all of them, obviously built for speed. Every muscle in Forests body strained to keep up with the rest. Spark was a few tail lengths behind him.

Forest risked a glance behind him, immediately wishing he hadn’t. Several Terror birds were chasing them, getting closer and closer every second.

Suddenly more of the hall collapsed, sending an avalanche of debris in front of three of the soldiers, and they skidded to a stop, blinking rock dust out of their eyes. Two Terror birds jumped over them, their faces set with determination.

Not too far ahead of Rust—Coal slowed down a bit, staring over his shoulder at the crumbling halls, his eyes dull and brokenhearted. Distracted, he didn’t notice the cascade of rocks plummeting down from the ceiling ahead of him, and the stone bricks fell down, down, down, right over the Prince’s head.

Nyx screamed, scrabbling to a stop at the sight of Coal falling underneath the force of several chunks of rock. More parts of the hall broke and fell behind them, blocking all of the Terror bird soldiers from getting any farther.

Forest ran forward, daring not to stop. He jumped ahead, shoved rocks off the Prince, and threw the small Terror bird over his back. Prince Coal yelled in agony, his whole body shaking. Forest saw that once of his back legs were crooked and bloody. “Hold on,” Forest said to him. Coal nodded quickly and clutched Forests feathers with the claws on his wings. Wincing, Forest heaved himself up and kept running.

Bramble ran next to him, pointing with his snout to an area where the hall widened.“There! That must be the way out!”

They entered a large chamber, lit up by several flaming torches. At the end of the room, two giant, weathered doors stood. Forest hastened his speed, running alongside Bramble, and the two rammed their heads into the doors, pushing them open.

“Yeah!” Rust cried.

They burst from the stronghold. The moon was full and bright, greeting them cheerfully with its blue-silver glow. Forest inhaled the scent of fresh leaves and dirt, slowing down.

“This way!” Bramble went on ahead. Forest heard snarls and shouts from inside of the stronghold. They weren’t safe yet.

They quickly followed the Thylacoleo, trying to keep quiet.

Bramble finally turned and slipped through some gorse bushes, leading to large, finely dug burrow. Brambles’ home.

Panting, the group of carnivores crawled inside, ready for this nightmare to finally be over.