Chapter Nineteen
Grendel and the Warrior-Poets
In the speed of that eyeblink, something big hurled itself at the monster on Valentina’s back and the two rolled off into the darkness together. The roar it made as it charged the rat thing had sounded human. She barely had time to register that when she realized the cave was full of human sounds, the sounds of weapons and grunts of effort or pain, but most of all the sounds of battle cries.
“Revolution!” one shouted.
“Revolution!” several others echoed, although a few were more properly shouting, “Revolución!” Valentina crawled back to where her spear had fallen, then thrust it into the ground to hoist herself up. Her leg was on fire but she didn’t let it give way beneath her. The exploding stars faded but the scene they had been hiding d
