Her heartbeat gained speed as she panted.
“They know we’re here,” I gasped.
A flush of adrenaline ran icy through my veins. The three of us stood looking at one another as Dakota moaned out again in agony.
Blood pooled in her mouth and ran down her chin.
I frantically signaled the hurry up motion with my hands.
Briggs continued to cut through the iron chains holding her legs to the walls.
Dakota’s heartbeat sped even faster when a timer started to count down.
The vermin nestled in the straw took flight and ran toward the door and out into the hallway, away from where we stood.
Ludovic tried to quiet Dakota. “Shh—take slower breaths. We’re getting you out of here, iubirea vieții mele.”
Briggs leaned down to cut the last two shackles from Dakota’s left ankle. “What dze ’ell?”
In my mind, I screamed Stop! Run! But my synapses eclipsed my brain signals, disabling my voice.
Time slowed to a snail’s crawl as I watched in hideous slow motion.
Dakota screamed as she grabbed Ludovic and yanked him to her chest. Her tongue slithered out through the mask and stabbed him in the throat. Her grip on him was that of a vice. She sucked him dry through her straw-like tongue wrapped around his neck.
My fangs inadvertently dropped in primal protection not knowing what she was capable of next. My mouth let out a hiss of defensive posturing.
Briggs stared at me, his eyes wide. “Chey Chey, you ’ave never done dzat before.”
I covered my mouth with my hands. My eyes widened with the realization of what Briggs had said and also from the hideous scene which stood in front of us.
Dakota turned her neck toward us and grinned with a mouthful of bloody, razor blade teeth.
Both Briggs and I had stepped several feet away from Dakota while we watched my baby sister claw and decimate Ludovic with her newly freed hands. She began to eat the torn muscles from where she had bitten him.
Briggs’ body started to shimmer in black scales which covered his arms and legs. He must have been as alarmed as I was.
I listened for the clicking noise once again. It had reached a crescendo and then stopped altogether.
There was a moment of utter silence.
Dakota turned once again and stared me in the eyes.
The only sound was a water drop.
I held out my arms toward her and mouthed the words I love you.
With one last click, Dakota’s body exploded into nothingness, taking Ludovic with her.
Briggs was smashed hard against the ground.
I flew backward, slamming into the slimy cave wall from the massive percussion blast.
Glass shards of the jar exploded, covering the heart region of my chest.
I slid down the dank, wet stone as every inch of my body smoked with embedded silver buckshot.
“My eyes!” My face scorched with the precious metal digging deeper into my flesh. In desperation, I squeezed and pushed at my eyes, blinking to dispel the silver, but only managed to embed glass shards into most of my face.
My vision irised in as if it were a camera lens and blackened around the edges. The scalding metal ate away at my sight. Bloody tears flooded my eye sockets.
Breathless, I reached out shaking hands squinting back at the hideous scene where my sister had stood just an infinitesimal moment ago. The last image of my sister was Dakota’s feet standing in the iron manacles from the ankles down.
Hands gripped me and yanked me to my feet. “Cheyenne, we’re getting out of here. Now! I’ve got to get Briggs. I’ll be right back.” Khaldon propped me against the wall, but my legs caved in on me. I didn’t have the strength to stand.
Dakota wasn’t growing dragon scales. They’d buried silver under her skin.
My breath sawed in and out of my chest with each intake of breath. The poisonous metal lacerated every inch and scalded me from inside out where it had embedded itself deep into my muscle layers. The silver pellets scraped against my bones. My mind grew clouded and muted as though I were underwater. Unconsciousness pulled me under with a thick, heavy rope weighed down by an old rusty anchor.
Trying to shake off the inky blackness of passing out, I attempted to rub chunks of metal while it ablated my skin. The silver and glass eroded more skin with every swipe. My vision grew darker, and I didn’t dare move anymore for fear the agony would escalate beyond my pain threshold.
“Dakota?” I struggled to form words. Blood pooled in my mouth. Touching my fingers to my lips, I realized most of my lower lip hung from my mouth as if it were fabric dangling off a curtain rod.
Mostly blinded, I saw a fuzzy mass struggling to stand as another bent down over it. My head reeled and pounded from the blood forcing its way through my body to send healing nutrients to the caustic burns. Through dark, hazy vision, my eyes lied as I strained to see my sister’s shape and only found an empty wall. The sounds of blood, flesh, and bone plopped to the floor.
A conch shell bellowed out through the cave, rattling my eardrums.
The Rakshasa … they knew we were here.
I sensed something in front of me.
“Grab her. I’ll run interference,” Briggs gruffed out in a labored breath.
“Torchy’s on his way.” Khaldon picked me up and threw me over his shoulder. The fireman’s carry almost proved to be more than I could handle. I cried out with every step as it forced the silver deeper under my skin.
Khaldon ran us down the corridor, but he abruptly stopped.
I screamed as razor blades sliced into the backs of my legs. Khaldon swung us around, and my head slammed into the side of the cave wall. Blinding colors fireworked inside my head. My calves were gashed open.
“He’s clawed her!” Briggs hollered.
My mind fuzzier than before, all I could imagine was a behemoth of a Rakshasa with my calf muscles impaled on his sickle-shaped talons. A swoosh of air cascaded over me, and I heard a thud land at my side.
Khaldon called out to Briggs, “Behind you, there’s another one. Here, grab my knife.”
My ears registered a grunted wheeze, a bone-ripping, wet sludgy slice, a metal clang, a gun blast, and then a solid thud.
“Harris, get in here. We’ve got to go!” Khaldon yelled and placed me on the vile floor. His footsteps left me.
I crouched up into myself cradling my body. Squeezing my calves, coppery wetness saturated my hands and pooled in my boots. My wounds weren’t healing.
Briggs hollered, “Dzere’s more coming.”
Sounds of the fighting cascaded all around me. The only way to describe it would be if I were sitting in the middle of a professional, concert surround-sound stereo system. Every crunch, punch, fall, kick, groan, stab, and jab amplified the tearing flesh all around me.
I ducked my head and heard Khaldon grunt after a solid punching blow. Was that a blow he gave or took?
“Watch out! It’s gonna spew ’is guts!” Briggs shouted and then it sounded as though he fell to the floor.
A splash of repulsive, toxic liquid cascaded over the ground and pooled around me. The smell was even more hideous than the stench we’d been breathing, if that was even possible. I gagged at the acrid odor of the eviscerated bowel.
Briggs let out an uproar.
“You all right, mate?” Khaldon’s voice edged with high alarm, and I heard more gun shots explode over my head.
“Is he ahwight?” My words were a jumbled mess with my lip dangling off my face. I coughed and choked on the sticky blood pooling in my mouth.
We must have been closer to the entrance than I realized. More mollusk horns broke the night’s drumming.
I looked up, but only masses of light and darkness were visible through the bloody rivulets.
Thunderous footsteps poured in all around us. Khaldon cursed under his breath. “Just feckin’ lovely.”
“Khaldon, get down!” Gunfire shattered against walls and their reports
filled the chamber. When the spray of bullets was over, nothing but the echoing sounds of bodies fell to the floor while the remains of Harris’ voice punctuated the air.
Khaldon hollered, “Torchy’s ready to land. Let’s go.”
Harris asked, “Where’s Dakota and Ludovic?
“Harris, they’re gone. We have to go.” Khaldon’s voice was across the room. “Can you lift her? Cheyenne is covered in silver and glass. Be mindful of the silver burns.”
“Gone? Burns?” Harris questioned. The tone of his voice unbelieving.
“No time. I’ve got to help Briggs.” Khaldon yelled back.
“I found another girl,” Harris hollered.
“Pull the twist outta yer bloody knickers and move yer arse!” Khaldon replied.
Harris grabbed my arm and yanked me up to my feet. “Sorry, Chey. We seriously gotta move.”
There was zero time to think about pain or the shocking reality of what had happened to my sister. We had to get everyone out of this hellhole before we were all dead.
The drumming outside echoed through the cavern. It grew in depth and tempo as we approached the entrance. More mollusks reverberated and sirened through the island.
They were coming after us.
The fresh night air was a welcome relief, but the macaque monkey screams and deafening drums unhinged me further. The wind from Torchy’s wings toppled me over into the cool dewy grass.
Khaldon cried out, “Oh shite, Briggs. Harris—he’s collapsed.”
“Chey, can you see at all?” Harris asked.
I shook my head, which seemed to throb in sync with the pounding footsteps running through the jungle. My stomach roiled with nauseating pain from the silver as it continued to send waves of scorching spasms. I rolled over onto my hands and knees. The next thing I knew, strong arms hoisted me into the air. I landed with a thud onto Torchy’s back.
“Hold on to this girl. I don’t think she’s conscious.” Harris threw a limp body in front of me.
“Briggs has been stabbed,” Khaldon hollered while they heaved Briggs in behind me.
Rakshasa erupted out of the jungle’s lush undergrowth and ululated their hungry battle cries.
Gun blasts cut through the night, and I covered my ears from the deafening reports.
Torchy’s neck grew hot. I imagined it like sitting atop of a chimney flue. Just when I couldn’t stand the pain of the searing temperature, Torchy blasted fire from his throat, unleashing his liquid fury.
I squinted hard as the powerful bright light erupted, searing my sight even more.
Torchy’s vengeance scorched vegetation and bodies. Charred aromas wafted in the energized air, while natives screamed all around us. Many cries raced away.
I prayed his blistering flames were cremating everything within range, awarding us precious moments to escape. Torchy revved up his pipes once again, and the blaze built in his belly.
“Jump on, Harris,” Khaldon bellowed over the loud flame thrower. Another massive intake of air and I braced myself for the next flame blast, but instead we were airborne.
“Watch out! Ten o’clock,” Harris shouted. “They’ve got blowpipes and spears.”
I instinctively tried to look, but all I could see was the faint orangish glow from the fire while the sound of poison darts whizzed over my head.
Gunfire exploded again.
I flattened myself closer to the girl and deeper into Torchy’s back for fear of being hit by either the poisonous darts or the bullets.
Harris screamed, “Ahhhhggg! Dammit, I’m hit!”
I looked back over my shoulder and yelled. “Hawwis, hang on!”
The air pressure increased as Torchy’s wings climbed higher and higher, up and away, hopefully out of range of the deadly barbs.
Torchy mind-messaged, Watch out—they have flaming arrows. I’m gonna blast them again.
The furnace released once again and my legs closed in around his abdomen tighter.
Bolts zoomed overhead.
Arrows clinked against Torchy’s scales. One of them nailed me in the calf and embedded itself into Torchy’s side. I felt him moan at the embedded projectile.
“Arrrgh!” I screamed and reached to pull at the arrow, but it was too far down for me to loosen my grip on the girl. With every heave of Torchy’s wings, his body flexed the arrow inside my leg. It was all I could do not to black out.
It sounded like a shotgun blast erupted from Harris. A deafening crack, and then a quick succession of the reload, and then another explosion.
The rushes of flames whizzed past my ear and clinks of spears bounced off Torchy’s hide at this height.
“Bloody hell, Torch—I’m hit! Get us to the water!” Khaldon called out.
“Chey, your hair is on fire!” Harris yelled.
Harris banged on my head, patting out the flames. The pressure from his hands pushed my face deeper into Torchy’s neck, which in turn heated the silver burning deeper into my face.
More quills whizzed past us through the night sky as Torchy flew our injured load higher away from the onslaught.
“The fire! I can’t get it out. It’s spreading! It’s—it’s—” Khaldon’s voice escalated, “some kind of silver oil mix.” He screamed in a voice I’d never heard. “AHHHHGG!”
Harris cried out, “My hands—I can’t feel my hands! I can’t get the fire out!”
Torchy abruptly changed his direction from going upward to a fast forward motion that threw me off balance. I barely hung on, the change in direction leaving me gasping for breath. Torchy maintained his forward inertia. We plunged into the water. Our crash landing felt as though I were ensconced in a full body seatbelt. Torchy held us on with his gluey type dragon essence, and we managed to stay attached to him without being thrown into the salt water.
Seconds later, watery plunges indicated Khaldon and Harris had dived off Torchy to squelch the flames. I squinted, barely able to see the orange glowing masses under the water.
They’re burning? Under the water?
I reached for my calf. “I can’t get it, Torch!” I tried to remove the arrow pinning me through the calf and embedded in Torchy’s side. The head of the bolt was too close to the bone. My fingers wrapped around it, but the slick blood didn’t help to capture a firm hold. I rocked it back and forth almost blacking out. Torchy and I both groaned at the failed extrication.
“Torchy are you aw wight? Can you see ’em? Are ’ey okay?”
Aye, I’ll be fine, lass. I see them. It looks like the flames are dying down. I think some of that fire is laced with a silver compound, and they’re gonna be in worse shape than you. We’ll get that bolt out soon enough.
I couldn’t imagine worse pain than what I was already experiencing. The saltwater scalded my open wounds where the chunks of silver refused to allow the sores to heal.
Will the sharks be attracted to the blood and flames?
After what seemed like an eternity, finally Harris and Khaldon breached the surface. Their heavy breathing told me just how ghastly they’d been injured. They had never sounded like that.
“How ’ad is it?” My bottom lip throbbed with every new splash of the ocean water.
There was silence from both Harris and Khaldon. Their lack of speech told me volumes more information than if either had uttered a single word.
Briggs and the girl hadn’t moved this entire time. If it weren’t for their faint heartbeats, I would have sworn we had lost them, too.
Waves of nausea roiled through my guts with the knowledge that the burnt stench came from Harris and Khaldon. The scent of my scorched hair and their charred flesh amplified the qualm.
“Hey guys, can one of you help me remove this bolt out of my leg? I’m pinned to Torchy’s side.”
Khaldon swam over to me, and before I knew it, had yanked the bolt out. I screamed in relief, but the overwhelming pain finally took its toll and I retched over the unknown girl’s body.
Torchy mind messaged, Oh, for chrissakes
, mates. We’ve got company. Jump on now, will ye? Sharks are schooling and bloody hell if they don’t look hungry.
Chapter Six
Phuket Hospital - Thailand
Twelve Hours Later
Cheyenne O’Cuinn
I failed. I should be dead.
A familiar schism of words replayed again in my head. This time the repeating scratch on the record fell to the end of the vinyl in a muffled vacuum of white noise.
The percussion section of hums, beeps, blips, and pings harmonized the soundtrack of the intensive care unit behind my head. I grew aware of my body, and consciousness flowed into the empty vessel reanimating me back to life.
My right hand reached for my head to cradle the weight of it. It weighed as much as ten bowling balls and pounded as members of a rock band were testing their amplifiers between the cranial walls.
Suddenly remembering the last time I awoke, I opened my eyes and shot up in bed, ready to fight off anyone who came close to me with another drug. But instead of being blinded and tied to the bed frame, I found myself in a room with blurry faces of loved ones who looked worse off than me.
“There now—slow it down, lass. You’re all right. It’s been a good while since you’ve been out.” Torchy’s strong Scottish accent punctuated the air. “Easy, now. We’re here. Just take a deep breath and relax yerself.”
I looked around, blinking and amazed I could see again. Khaldon and Harris were across the room, both in beds with bandages taped to their faces, necks, and legs. Briggs lay in a bed beside me, surrounded by an army of white coats and nurse uniforms.
I tried to croak out words. “What time—what day?”
“Relax, it’s all right.” Torchy eased his hands down on my shoulders and gave me a slight squeeze. I winced at the pain and he released.
“You’ve been out for nearly twelve hours since we left the island, Cheyenne. We’re damn lucky we made it out of there with only the pains we have.”
“Where?” Remembering it was severed, I reached for my bottom lip and was relieved to learn it was reattached. Faint stitches lined the entire bottom lip.
I guess they weren’t trying to stuff me and roast me over the fire.
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