The heavy steel canister carrying the ADS generator smashed against the iron gate, drawing the monster's attention—

And mine.

Stuffing the flashlight into my back pocket, I dived into the bone- chilling water, allowing the current to sweep me toward the remains of the hanging iron gate and barrel. Kicking hard, I grabbed for the barrier, using its rusted metal bars as a ladder to pull myself out of the river.

I never saw the creature's head as it launched through the smoke and darkness, but I felt its impact as it glanced off the gate and bashed against rock.

The blow seemed to stun the beast, but it also knocked the barrel free, which was swept behind me into the darkness, followed by two-thousand-feet of umbilical cord.

Reaching down from my wobbly perch, I grabbed the line and began pulling it from the water like a madman, trying to locate its severed end before the barrel dragged the rest of the cord away.

My hands registered the decreased weight of the line, and I knew I was close.

"Son, look oot!"

I glanced up as the monster sprang blindly at me again—greeting its dagger-filled mouth with the sizzling end of the live wire, accompanied by several thousand volts of electricity.

Blue veins of current riddled the serpent's head, igniting its slimy oil-covered face. Injured and enraged, it reeled back and shook its head like a wet dog, unleashing gobs of putrid mucus.

The ancient gate groaned and I felt it give way beneath me. As it broke free from its rusted frame, I leaped to the rocky shoreline, the sparking end of the cord still clenched in my right hand.

"Zack!"

The umbilical suddenly went taut, its weight dragging me back toward the river.

I released the cord and looked up as the monster's tail swatted me through the thick air and into oblivion.

Chapter 35

I opened my eyes, enveloped in blackness. Intense pain riddled my body. Blood oozed from my head and broken nose, dripping into my mouth. I spat out the warm liquid and struggled to sit up.

From the blue flames that still licked at the oil-drenched ceiling, I saw that I was lying in rubble, close to the tunnel's exit. Through heavy smoke and my dizziness I could just make out a pair of lights by the river's edge, the beams oscillating, then disappearing behind an enormous shadow.

It was the creature, its immense tail lashing to and fro, continuously blocking my view.

And then I saw my father and Alban. The beast had them cornered, their backs to the river.

I felt for the flashlight in my back pocket, then saw it lying in the rubble, its beam reflecting upon something shiny.

The Braveheart?

Reaching into the pile of rubble, I felt for the silver casket, extracting instead the hilt of a massive steel sword.

I focused my light upon the length of its rust-streaked blade and read my destiny.

* * *