Page 41 of The Hyena’s Guardian

The outer wall behind the platform exploded inward.

Stone detonated across the chamber while something massive crashed through the breach in a storm of shattered rock and dust. Matt barely had time to raise an arm before the impact wave slammed through the room hard enough to throw him sideways across the floor.

Theron snarled.

And from the collapsing darkness beyond the broken wall, something enormous began to crawl into the chamber.

The massive shape pulled itself farther through the shattered wall.

Stone groaned beneath its weight while broken rock cascaded from the breach in steady streams. For several seconds, Matt could not fully understand what he was looking at because the creature seemed too large for the chamber itself. Black fur covered most of its body in uneven patches broken by exposed gray skin and old scars, while elongated limbs dragged across the stone with heavy, deliberate force.

Then the thing lifted its head.

Matt recoiled before he consciously understood why. This was more than the instinctive recognition of one predator encountering another. The creature radiated a presence so immense that his body reacted before thought, every sense narrowing toward the thing dragging itself into the chamber.

Its pale eyes settled first on the King’s Hand.

The ancient advisor’s expression settled into something cold and the certainty that had carried him until now simply vanished.

“Well,” it murmured softly, “that is unfortunate.”

Theron stepped backward toward Matt without taking his eyes off the breach. “Stay behind me,” he said.

Matt stared at the massive creature still forcing its way through the broken wall. “I feel like we are operating far beyond the point where that remains a practical strategy.”

The creature’s head turned toward them.

The movement looked wrong somehow. Not jerking or animalistic like the hungry ones, but heavy and deliberate in a way that suggested tremendous restraint beneath the surface. Its nostrils flared once as it scented the chamber.

Then it stopped on Matt. The entire room seemed to tighten. Theron’s growl deepened instantly. The larger creature ignored him completely.

It continued staring directly at Matt while the silver symbols surrounding the platform pulsed harder beneath the stone floor. Matt became abruptly aware that every creature in the room had gone motionless at the same time.

Even the hungry ones lingering near the tunnel entrances had frozen where they clung to the walls, their pale eyes fixed on the massive creature as it took another step into the chamber.

Chains rattled violently behind them as the King's Hand shifted hard against the restraints with sudden agitation. “No,” it snapped.

The larger creature’s gaze finally shifted, and Matt realized something horrifying.

The King's Hand was afraid of it too.

Then the creature moved again before anyone else could react, crossing the chamber with impossible speed despite its massive size. One second it stood near the collapsed wall. The next, it slammed one enormous hand around the King's Hand's throat hard enough to crack the platform beneath them.

The impact detonated through the chamber like an explosion of stone.

The bound creature snarled violently as silver light erupted around both of them, but the larger creature held firm despite the chains and containment symbols burning across its skin.

Then it spoke. The voice rolled through the chamber deep enough that Matt felt it physically in his chest. “You broke the seals.”

The Hand's smile twisted. “You sound surprised.”

The larger creature tightened its grip. The chains groaned. “You called them upward.”

“And you failed to stop them.”

Theron shifted in front of Matt again, posture tightening as the two ancient creatures stared at one another across the platform.

Matt looked toward Theron. “Okay… I know who the Hand is. What in the hell is that?”