Marrow Hole (pages 23-24)

Transcript

… The warmth spread through him, deeper and deeper, and Gareth watched the light in the room dance through his closed eyes. Had it been minutes? Hours? Days? He began to wonder if it was over, or if the medic had even begun. Then suddenly, he heard her voice again – quiet, muffled, but strong and certain. What was she saying? He still couldn’t understand. But just as soon as her voice faded away again, the pleasant warmth he’d been feeling became a searing, piercing heat. Gareth screamed and cried out, trying to claw at his chest, but his arms were restrained by small goblin hands. The red iron pain radiated from his heart up through his shoulder and neck, down his back, and then even more quickly than it had begun…

It stopped.

The warmth had faded, as well, but Gareth’s vision still swam in color and the chorus of corpses still cheered for him, though their voices were more subdued now. Gareth felt the sting of a needle and saw a glint of delicate spider silk wisp through the air. It was, at that moment, the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. He slept for a time.

The darkness gave way to the dim lights of embers under the boiling vats. The room was silent again, save for the rhythmic heaving of the corpses. Gareth lifted his head and looked around the wet room, cautiously, where he met eyes with the goblin operating the bellows. It was a third apprentice this … [cont.]

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