Its jaws opened in two directions. Its mouth was vast. The teeth looked sharp, and they were everywhere. It leaped at Skulduggery and he dodged, barely. The tiger landed and spun without pause, and Skulduggery took off, lifted into the air. But the tiger jumped, collided with him and they went down. Those jaws closed over his forearm and Skulduggery yelled in pain. He used the air to roll himself sideways, took the tiger with him, and they rolled off the edge of the bridge and fell.

They dropped into the chasm. On the way down, the tiger released Skulduggery’s arm.

The tiger continued to fall, as Skulduggery swooped up and landed beside Valkyrie.

She glared at him. “You let it fall.”

He held up his torn sleeve. “It bit me.”

“It was a tiger. You don’t let tigers fall. They’re endangered.”

“Up there, yes,” he said. “Down here, no. You also seem to be forgetting the fact that it bit me.”

“Still,” she said, scowling, “cruelty to animals.”

“What about cruelty to me?” he asked, loading another dart into the gun.

“Um,” said Gordon, “if I may? Mire called those things Phalanx Tigers for a reason. From the Latin, meaning battle line. They never hunt alone.”

They looked back over the bridge, where a dozen Phalanx Tigers were grouping.

Skulduggery wrapped his arm round Valkyrie’s waist. “We’re getting out of here.”

“Wait,” said Gordon. “If you lead them away, your magic will make them follow you. They’ll ignore Valkyrie.”

Valkyrie frowned. “I don’t want to be left behind.”

“You don’t have to be. Skulduggery, lead them east. You’ll get to a narrow tunnel. Go through it, turn right. There’ll be a gap they can’t cross but you can. Take the only tunnel you see, and it will lead you straight to the other side of this bridge, where we will be waiting.”

The tigers were crossing the bridge.

“Good plan,” Skulduggery said. He handed her his gun. “Valkyrie, get behind that rock. I’ll meet you over the other side.”

Gordon disappeared into the Echo Stone and Valkyrie couldn’t think of a good enough reason why she shouldn’t do as suggested. She hurried away, got behind cover, and peeked out at Skulduggery, waving hands that were full of flames.

The tigers broke into a run, and the flames went out and Skulduggery started sprinting. They caught up to him easily so he started flying. He led them away.

Valkyrie peeked out. No stragglers. She emerged, and jogged to the bridge. She looked straight ahead as she crossed it. The bridge was the width of a country lane and she could walk a country lane without stepping on to the grass verge on either side. She should be able to do this without a problem. But there was no grass verge here. There was only a drop and darkness. She could feel her heartbeat.