Cave of Bones (Dark Island Series Book 2)

by J. D. Matheny

  Noni took the lead then, without a word. She simply began to walk forward, calm and confident, holding her small torch up as she moved into the small orchard of trees. Bolo looked back at them and shrugged, then followed along. Soon, their ragtag group was trailing through the light cover, mere minutes from what would turn out to be a deadly confrontation.

  32

  Sala worked her way through the warm water in labored strokes, holding the lamp as high over her head as possible to prevent any water from splashing up and extinguishing it. She had never experienced fear of the water before, but now, tempting the wraith of Daucina once again, she was nearly frozen in terror. At any moment she expected that strange, glowing light to surround her and hard hands to grip her ankles, pulling her under. Yet she moved on. Stopping wasn’t an option, nor was turning back.

  Behind her, the baby lay on the beach, quiet as ever. Leaving him had been an agonizing decision, but she would return. No matter how scary the swim through the darkness turned out to be, Sala was firmly resolved in taking the baby with her in this desperate flight. For once, she wished the precious little thing would cry out. Any sound would likely draw the demon back to her but the comfort of knowing the babe was still there, unharmed, would almost be worth it.

  Both of her shoulders were now burning with effort, her left constantly struggling to propel her forward, her right straining to keep the lamp high up over her head. With her breath getting ragged, she began to inhale splashes of warm saltwater, causing her to cough instinctively, her body trying to repel the unwanted element. The noise echoed out over the water and Sala froze in place, waiting to see what else might have heard. The lake and trees beyond remained quiet and unmoving. Go Sala, go! You’re almost there!

  She pushed on, ignoring the burning of her muscles as best she could. Then her foot hit something solid, nearly causing her to yell out in surprise, before she realized it was just the ground. She made it.

  Step by sluggish step she waded up out of the water, bending over as best as her enormous stomach would allow, and took a glorious moment to catch her breath and appreciate the feel of solid land.

  Don’t get too happy, girl, you’ve got to go back. And this time you’ll have a baby. Have you even thought about how you’ll manage that?

  She hadn’t, until now. To this point her focus had been wrapped up in escape. Her assumption had been that the details would get worked out as she went along.

  Could she realistically hold a baby over her head with one arm? The lamp was lighter, even lighter than a newborn, and that had been a struggle. Could she just swim on her back, keeping the baby laying on her chest?

  Just then a rustle of branches crackled off to her left and she saw two large fruit bats explode out of a tree to the right side of the lake. Sala held her breath with frantic anticipation. It’s just bats, calm now. He didn’t scare them off, they’re just being territorial, fighting over food. She stared at the spot, not daring to breathe until she was sure it wasn’t Him.

  But it was Him. Out of the trees where the bats took flight His fiery head emerged, pausing for a moment at the edge of the water, then moving forward. The orange firelight of his flaming dome disappeared into the lake and suddenly became a round phosphorescent glow that glided through the water, heading toward the Bure. Moments later, the head emerged, again showing the licking flames and illuminating the huge figure beneath. Daucina moved up the steps to enter His temple.

  Oh god, what do I do now! Her instinct was to turn toward her path of escape and run, but that would mean leaving the baby behind.

  Could she do that?

  33

  The four of them huddled tight around a large, flowery bush just ten feet or so off the edge of where the fruit trees and foliage gave way to powdery sand. All eyes were focused on the small source of light that danced around on the shore near the lake. The end was near and the bells of fate rang sharply in their minds. One way or another, for better or worse, this would all be done soon and all but the wizened old woman wondered if the person crouching next to them would leave this island with their loved one. Or at all.

  “Is it …” Sophie ventured to speak first, in a whisper so barely audible she wondered briefly if she had made any sound at all. The light was brightening by subtle shades and the humidity was increasing with it, filling her nose and lungs with warm, moist heat.

  “No,” Bolo whispered. “I’m sure it is not. It’s something else, I do not know what.” With that, he crept forward, doing his best to maintain some semblance of cover as he moved through the thinning trees. After pausing for a moment, he slowly returned in a backward crouch. “It looks like a lantern, or something similar. I think I heard some splashing, but I cannot be sure. There is no sign of Daucina. The time is here.”

  Noni stood, looking over the three of them with light glinting off her eyes, before letting her gaze fall to the ground. Her body seemed to expand slightly, then retreat further into her robes with a motion of a deep sigh. When she looked back up at them her face looked much softer than before. Sophie even had the brief idea she could be a grandmother, somebody who loved and was loved by others. Then the old eyes flickered back to the beach before settling on them again, this time filled with the look of doubt and … fear? Was it a hint of fear?

  “What is it?” Sophie whispered. The old woman’s sudden change of demeanor frightened her. There had been something unsettling with her before, the way she seemed cloaked in mystery, the way she moved so youthfully, but those things also gave her an aura of strength and Sophie found she had been relying on that strength. Now the aura was gone and before her stood nothing more than a tired old lady.

  We’re doomed. She found herself thinking it without a chance to derail the process before it caused her whole body to shiver.

  Before a response could come her head exploded in a violent symphony of noise. The brute force of it brought her hands to her head and she found herself squeezing from both sides to hold herself together. She had experienced this before. It was like the sounds of a hurricane, violent wind and crashing waves, mixed with the squealing sound of tires, all assaulting her senses at one moment. Her vision was a blur. The agony of it lasted for a few short seconds that stretched on for an eternity. When it stopped, she kept her hands in place, still squeezing, and took note of what was occurring around her. She half expected her sight to return and find herself on her back and staring up at the night sky, but in fact, she was still crouched in the same position. The others weren’t all staring at her in concern either, they were all clutching their heads in the same fashion.

  Sophie brought her hands close to her face, examining her palms for blood. When she didn’t see any, she looked up at the witch, her eyes no less wild than a hare caught in a trap. “What was that!”

  Just then another sound rang out in the night, but this one very much human in nature. A woman screaming.

  “Sala!” Bolo sprang up and bolted from cover, racing toward the noise.

  “Damnit!” Thomas jumped up and went after him.

  Sophie froze, not knowing whether to stay or follow. This wasn’t the way it was supposed to happen! There was a plan! She looked at Noni, who hadn’t moved and still carried the look of sad uncertainty on her face.

  “Move, you old bat! This is why you’re here!” Her sudden flare of anger startled her but how else could she respond? All this time there was a feeling she was going to be in control of getting her baby back. The bulletproof mother. Somehow, some way, she would outrun or outsmart this so-called fucking god, and she would leave this island with Kai safely cradled in her arms.

  But all this time, she realized, it was more the old woman she had truly been relying on. There was a power there, given off by a strange sense of assuredness she carried on her bent back. Now that was gone, lost somewhere along the way, and Sophie’s hopes were trailing off after it.

  “Fuck it! Just stay then!” With that, she burst out of hiding and on to the dark beach.

>   The first thing she saw was the lamp, burning like a small beacon near the edge of the water. Beside it were two torches, tossed on the sand and forgotten. Next to them, the club and the axe her brother and Bolo had been carrying only moments before. They had abandoned everything. She looked up and saw them splashing hectically through the water. What madness is this? she wondered.

  Then she saw what had prompted their bold and impulsive efforts. On the other side of the water was a woman. She might not have seen her in the fading moonlight but for the giant pregnant belly that was obvious, even from her distance. The woman was half kneeling, half bending over to pick something up.

  Then He was there. Daucina.

  For the first time she was seeing him in … flesh and blood? In whatever form gods were given. He was ducking down through the doorway of the Bure and rushing down the stairs in giant steps. Sophie watched with terrible concern, one hand covering her mouth, the other dangling at her side, the torch temporarily forgotten. She looked back to track the progress of the two men racing across the water.

  Bolo had seen his wife and lost it. The plan went right out the window. She couldn’t blame him. Chances are, had she seen Kai on the beach, she would have done the exact same thing. But now they were in a seriously bad way. They’d poked the lion, as her dad used to say. Now the lion was about to bite.

  Daucina crossed the sand with a frightening swiftness, the sheer size of him making the scene completely surreal. The woman, Sala, was frozen before him, like a deer staring into the bright lights of an oncoming vehicle with no chance to escape. He reached her, plucked something from her arms, a tiny bundle of something. Sophie had just enough time to think Kai? before Sala was dealt a savage backhanded blow that lifted her feet from the ground and sent her flying back into the water. Then he turned, completely ignoring the two men approaching quickly through the water, and strode back across the sand, up the stairs and into the Bure.

  She raced past the lantern and discarded weapons and stopped, ankle deep in water. Uncertainty kept her solidly in place there, wanting to dash to Kai’s rescue but knowing she stood no chance confronting that beast alone. He was so monstrous!

  Then she saw Bolo and Thomas reach the limp figure of Sala and lift her halfway up and out of the water. After a moment of wrestling with her dead weight, they managed to each secure a hold of one side of her and began pulling her back through the lake. Then they were hastening back toward her at a good clip. That made up Sophie’s mind. As difficult as it was, with Kai in the arms of that Thing, all alone, she waited for their small group to reform. They had to stick together, it was their best and only hope.

  Sophie heard rustling behind her and spun around. But it was just Noni, joining the fray after all. She was bent over, gathering up the discarded torches, whose flames were guttering but still alive. Her old hands moved deftly as they stacked up the burning wood to form a small fire. Sophie moved up and placed hers on top of the stack.

  “I’m sorry, for what I said before. I was panicking.” She knew the old woman couldn’t understand her, at least, didn’t think she could, but she felt better saying it. Noni paid her no mind, she was completely focused on the task at hand, blowing at the charred sticks to enrage the flames, which seemed to be working. Then she began pulling various pouches out of the folds of her robe and the two hanging satchels.

  Sophie let her go about her business and turned back to see how her brother was doing. They were over halfway back now and moving swiftly. But something else was also moving swiftly, a glowing light in the water, small at first as it moved from the opposite shore, but expanding quickly. Sophie jumped toward the water, cupped her hands around her mouth, and screamed a warning at them.

  “Go Thomas! Faster! He’s behind you!”

  Then a crazy idea struck her. Seize the moment, she thought to herself. Something else her dad used to tell her. Whenever there’s an opportunity, Sophie, you must recognize it, he said to her. Then you must be brave enough and decisive enough to seize the moment.

  So, she did. Without another second of delay, she sprinted off to her right, racing several yards down the beach, and threw herself into the water.

  34

  Despite the water churning around them and the ragged breathing and grunts of effort issuing forth from both men, Thomas heard his sister’s warning. He was coming. Bolo must have heard as well, because as Thomas somehow managed to double his efforts, he felt Bolo surge forward with him. Don’t look back, he thought wildly to himself. Focus on the shore. But what then? He couldn’t think about that. First, they had to get there.

  His right arm was hooked under the shoulder of Bolo’s wife, his arm stretching out over her chest, while his left arm pumped continuously in an awkward overhand stroke. Every time his arm circled under and rose for another stroke his head dipped momentarily under the water, where he’d hold his breath briefly to avoid sucking any into his lungs, then he’d get a chance when he came back up to pull in a huge breath. At those moments, after a quick flickering of the eyelids to clear the drops, he could see Noni on the beach. Somehow the old woman had gotten the fire burning brightly and she was intent on another one of her voodoo hoodoo ceremonies, waving her arms in the air and occasionally casting something into the flames that would bring forth a cloud of that dark smoke. Thomas didn’t like this magic crap, not at all, but the sight gave him encouragement nonetheless. They might need something magical to get out of this mess. Then the realization hit him, where was Sophie?

  No sooner had the thought occurred, with the shore only a couple dozen feet away, when Bolo gave a yelp and suddenly Thomas found himself bearing the full weight of the unconscious pregnant woman. Bolo was gone and only a white frothing swirl of water was left in his place.

  Thomas couldn’t do anything about it, not yet. He threw everything he had into reaching solid ground, hoping the woman at his side wasn’t swallowing water. Within seconds, his feet hit the ground and he was lunging through the shallows and up on to the glorious sand. He grabbed hold of his charge under both armpits and pulled her further up on to the beach, then faced the oncoming storm, hoping to see Bolo alive.

  What he saw was something he didn’t know how to deal with. The water was lit up in a bright glow and full of churning rage, bubbles erupting from the surface and waves crashing away in every direction. What’s happening to him under there‽

  As if in answer, a flaming ball rose from the water, and a terrible figure surged out with it. For a moment, fear and thoughts of self-preservation were forgotten. Thomas had heard the description from his sister, but seeing It in person had him staring in dumbfounded awe. The crown of Its head alive with flames, the face a swirling eddy of inky nothingness, and the body. His body must be eight feet tall, Thomas thought. Not a skinny, tall guy, like all those rangy, black African hunters he’d watched on the Discovery Channel, this Thing’s figure was heavily muscled like a fucking Terminator.

  As It burst forth from the water, Bolo’s limp figure hung from Its arms like a trophy, then was casually flung forth to land on the sand with a thud. Thomas stared stupidly at the bruised and bloodied man, wondering if he was dead.

  Then Daucina was upon him.

  35

  Sophie flew through the water, her athletic and graceful body aided by the powerful strength of a desperate mother. She made short work of the swim, coming on to shore breathing hard but not nearly spent. It took every ounce of willpower she had not to look back to see if her brother had made it. Guilt threatened to latch on to her with its slippery tentacles but she beat it back. There was nothing she could have done to help, and besides, her role was always to secure her little baby. She just had to hope her three companions could manage to overcome a God.

  She let out a nervous titter at that.

  Moving fast, she crossed the hot sand and took the steps three at a time, bursting through the stone doorway of the Bure with complete disregard to anything that might be waiting.

  Nothing sini
ster waited. No traps, no guardians. Just her baby, squirming on the altar and crying feebly.

  “Kai!” Her voice sounded jubilant, even in her own ears. That small realization made her think for a moment just how crazy life, and the human condition, truly was. When the world was threatening to fall apart around you, a small flicker of hope could bring out a triumphant laugh.

  For the first time since her baby had been taken she felt true happiness. She felt victorious! She moved to the altar and swooped his little form up in her arms, taking a moment to stare at his gorgeous face. Kai regarded her with an eerily mature contemplation, his face no longer scrunched up and crying, but his tiny lower lip sticking out and quivering. Then she brought him to her chest and felt a great flood of tears burst forth.

  It felt good to cry. Amazingly good, like all the terrible thoughts she’d been nearly overcome with over the last several days were being purged from her system. I’ve done it! she screamed inwardly.

  But it wasn’t done yet. Not completely. She finally had her baby back, but she still had to get off this island with him. And with her brother in tow.

  Thomas! Her small moment of elation vanished. She bolted through the doorway directly ahead of her, Kai held firmly to her breast, and went to see what was happening to her big brother.

  36

  “Noni! If you got anything up your sleeve then you might want to use it now!!” Thomas backed slowly from the advancing figure of Daucina, who was moving toward him much faster than he was moving away. Nothing in his life had prepared him for a moment like this. All his nerves screamed out to run like hell and hope for the best. It was only through a tremendous amount of willpower, and with thoughts of his family, that he could even remain as steady as he was.