Read Up From Hell for Free Online

your friend,” Alpnu said. “It may be too late already.”
    â€œThen I hope he’ll give it to me,” I said, talking more to myself than to the woman. Taking something away from Galo that he didn’t want to give up was business for more men than just me.
    He’d offered me the jewel back in the Crow’s camp, but something had changed in Galo since then. If he said no, I wasn’t going to fill him with javelins and take it off his body. That was the only way I was sure would work.
    We walked into the cave. The floor curved up to both sides like a jar laid over, so I walked in front of her. There was light from inside, which I didn’t expect; the brimstone smell was a lot stronger. I wondered if Galo had lighted a fire and what he’d found to burn.
    The iron door at the end of the passage stood ajar. It must have been rusted solid to its jamb. Even after Galo had ripped the bolt from its staples, he’d had to hammer his bar into the seam and prize the panel open. The edge of the thick metal was bent up from his effort.
    The red light came from beyond the doorway. It was the color of the coals of a campfire when you stir the ashes off them.
    I stopped. I hadn’t noticed Galo for a moment because he stood on the hinge side of the door, shadowed from the red glow. He had a woman against the wall and was thrusting into her. She looked past his shoulder toward me. Her face was as calm as an ivory goddess’s.
    â€œWe’ve got to stop him!” Alpnu said. “If it feeds—”
    She slipped past me, but I grabbed her by the shoulder. “This is none of our business,” I said. “If Galo wants—”
    Galo must have heard our voices; he turned his head. His face was rigid.
    He screamed. He was a big man with good lungs; the sound echoed through my bones. I’d never heard anything like it, and I prayed the Dagda grant I that never would again. Blood sprayed from his mouth and nostrils, ending the scream.
    Galo’s torso flopped over like an emptied wineskin. I must’ve let go of Alpnu then, because she darted forward.
    Galo’s face was loose. What remained stared at me from upside down. I shouted and drew my sword again.
    The expression of the woman Galo had had against the wall didn’t change. Her slim, naked body was perfect. The beautiful woman, he’d said, and now I knew what he’d meant.
    Alpnu grabbed the jewel around Galo’s neck and tugged at the chain. There wouldn’t have been room enough to get her fingers under it before, when Galo’s skin hadn’t been an empty sack.
    The chain didn’t break. The woman, the creature, that had sucked out Galo’s life reached for Alpnu with its right hand. Its arm extended like a rivulet of water crawling through the air.
    I stepped forward and thrust for the creature’s shoulder. I half expected a shock like what I’d gotten from the metal thing, but my point slipped in until the rock stopped it. The creature’s flesh burned black and stinking around the steel.
    The air trembled. It wasn’t a sound that I could hear, but it made my hair stand on end.
    Alpnu tugged again and the jewel came free in her hand. The chain still hadn’t broken, but she’d pulled the loop over the flopping remains of my friend’s face.
    I drew back. The creature’s expression remained frozen in that almost-smile. Galo’s body fell to the tunnel floor. For a moment I saw a round, toothed maw dripping with blood; then it withdrew into the creature’s groin.
    Alpnu rubbed the jewel against the floor. It gouged a line in the stone.
    The creature’s wounded shoulder knit like a pond closing over a dropped knife. Its left foot extended past me toward the entrance, moving with shimmering suddenness.
    â€œAlpnu, come! ” I shouted. I slashed sideways at the creature’s head. It flowed away from my blade, and I struck the wall again. Its