She reached the point where this passage joined the one she'd come in by with no incident. She paused there, ears pricked, listening, but she heard nothing. She stepped out into the tunnel and turned to head to the exit. And then she heard the sound, the hissing-clicking-echoing sound of the things. She stopped. She couldn't tell where it was coming from. She cursed silently. Then she whispered "Hold on tight," to the aerian and broke into a run. He clung to her tightly, his grip on her fur hard enough to hurt, and clenched his teeth as her bounding run jolted and jarred his broken wing with every stride.

They raced down the tunnel, but the sound was getting louder, and suddenly one of the creatures emerged from a side tunnel only a few yards behind them. It saw them and let out a wailing cry that set every hair Flame Song had on end. She didn't look behind her, but the aerian did, and saw it moving after them, its eyes thin red slits in the blackness of it. Flame ran faster, out-pacing the thing, if only just. The shadow thing was fast, but firecats were built to run, and Flame was going flat out. Other shadow things were coming out of the tunnels on either side. So far none had come out ahead of them, but it would only take one... And the light had been growing dimmer all this time. Soon it faded entirely and Flame was running blind in the darkness. Here, though, there were no more side tunnels. She was ahead of them all. And before long she saw a faint glow; sunlight coming down the entrance tunnel of her home, reflecting off the main chamber and the kitchen walls, filtering down into the cellar and at last, so dim as to almost not exist at all, spilling out into the tunnel. She had slowed slightly when she entered the utter darkness, but she ran faster now, her goal in sight. She could hear the things behind her, hissing and snarling and even howling. Her fur was still all on end.

She was so close, mere yards from the end of the tunnel. They were almost there! Then she screamed, brought abruptly to a halt, burning cold scorching through her entire body. One of the things had grabbed her tail. The aerian tumbled over her head, unable to keep his grip. He lay still on the floor, stunned. Flame screamed again, a feline cry of utter terror and pain, as the creature pulled her closer, its grasping tentacles of blackness closing around her.

There was a flare of light like lighting a match and a voice that was almost human said "Let her go."

The black tentacles withdrew and Flame collapsed, whimpering. The aerian got to his knees, his eyes darting from her shuddering form to the being that stood a few yards in front of them, illuminated by a tiny flame that hovered just over his shoulder. He appeared to be a human man, tall and handsome, dressed all in black. His face bore a sardonic smile as he gazed at the two before him. The shadow demons hovered behind him, a shifting backdrop of black dotted with narrow red eyes. The man's eyes were also red, the irises glowing crimson.

"You nearly made it," he said. His voice should have sounded human, but somehow underneath it was the skittering sound of demon speech. "Congratulations. You have tasted freedom and the chance to live. It's sweet, isn't it? Perhaps now you'll change your mind, boy. Just give it to me and you can live."

With stubborn, if weary, defiance the aerian said, "No."

"Well, perhaps I'll have better luck with another tack," said the man. "You I cannot touch, but your friend here has no such protection." The man lifted his hand. Light and shadow gathered around it, glowing red swirled with inky black. "I can hurt her. I can kill her even. And she will suffer slowly for weeks, even months, until you can't stand her pain any longer and give in. Or you can spare her and just give it to me now."

The aerian looked up, pain written in every line of him. He had some idea of how bad this promised fate would be, but he couldn't give in, not even to save another. "No."

"Very well." The man made a throwing gesture and the spell sped towards the helpless Flame Song. As he did so the aerian lunged, somehow finding strength to throw himself over her. The spell struck him rather than her, but seemed to slide along his skin. The man's eyes went wide and he turned as if to run. The spell slid up to the torc at the aerian's neck, and then streaked outward from the red stone, rebounding on the being who had cast it. It struck with the force of an explosion. Whatever it had been meant to do to the firecat, it had the effect of a grenade on the demonic man. He exploded into scraps of shadow and red fire, and the things around him shrieked in agony. The whole tunnel rocked with it. And then did more than just rock. With a tremendous crack the ceiling began to come down. The aerian scrambled backward, tugging at Flame Song. "Come on!"

She scrambled to her feet, shaking off the worst of the demonic chill, and she dived through the narrow gap into her own cellar, close on the aerian's heels. The rumble of falling earth went on for some time, but Flame had known what she was doing when she dug her smaller chamber, and none of it fell down on them.

Finally there was silence. The air was thick with dust and there was a wall of tumbled chunks of frozen earth filling the gap they'd come through.