Kieran, seeing me defenceless from across the room, flung me one of his two Gaborah blades. It flew and skidded clatteringly across the floor. I immediately raced after it, grabbling for it as I jumped back onto my feet. I raised my blade, swinging it upwards to protect Chara as a clawed hand cascaded towards her.
My blade struck the half breed with a great force that recoiled through my arm, but its armoured flesh was stronger than the metal and again my blade broke.
I stared at the broken blade, horrified.
“Stop breaking my blades!” Kieran yelled, still fighting while frowning at me. “They cost more than your life’s worth!”
“Well they obviously don’t!” I yelled back. “Otherwise they wouldn’t keep breaking!”
I recoiled as the creature, seeing my weakness, lunged for me with its long arms. I staggered backwards, panicking when I felt the cold hard wall behind me. I tried to struggle away but the half breed was too strong. It lifted me effortlessly with an impossibly restrictive hold and then launched me through the air. I was airborne momentarily before I crashed into the wall on the opposite side of the room.
I’d hit the back of my head. I shakily lifted my hand to where the pain was and when I removed my fingers I saw blood running freely down them. The room spun around me as I felt my body sinking, gravity pushing me down like a giant’s hand. I could feel my body slipping away, my eyes closing as a cloud floated over me.
Around me I could just make out the others frantically battling for their lives. Nik was now fighting with Chara and had a deep gash on the side of his left arm. Jayson and Kieran were working shockingly well together. They moved in perfect synchrony, diving and ducking underneath the beasts; striking together while continuously watching each other’s back. Despite this though, they were still losing.
And then I heard a cry. A cry that made my insides quiver.
I knew by that cry that this would be over pretty soon; with great casualties on our part. I glanced over at Chara, expecting to see a massive gaping wound bisecting her, but instead realised that she’d collapsed to the floor and had curled up into the foetal position; clutching her ankle desperately. Confused, I stared closer, seeing two tiny bite marks just above her Achilles tendon. From the corner of my eye I noticed a flash of that tiny snake as it disappeared again. It had bitten her.
And if Kieran was right, that meant that venom now ran through her bloodstream. Venom that would kill her in minutes.
Chapter Thirty
I watched in horror as Chara screamed. Forgetting my painful head injury, my blurring vision and the sinking feeling in my stomach I frantically scrambled over to her, pulling her towards the wall and slightly further from more harm. The bite on her ankle was tiny, but the edges of it were already fringed with a tarlike liquid that was instantly absorbing into her vulnerable flesh, turning it a deep blue-grey.
I didn’t know what to do so I glanced up at Nik; but he wasn’t looking our way. He was staring up at the menacing Daemon with such a malicious, terrifying hatred that even I felt a shiver go up my spine. A loud scream of anger exploded from his mouth as he furiously hurled himself up onto the monster. The half breed wasn’t expecting such a dramatic attack and its reactions were slow as it fought off Nik’s infuriated blows. Nik’s shots were so impressive that by the time the half breed hesitantly blocked Nik had already stuck again, all until he swung his blade with a mortal precision.
The sharpened metal gleamed as it touched the side of the half breed’s neck and just as swiftly continued its path. The half breed’s head severed, blood splattering up the walls as it flew across the room; landing not far from me and Chara and rolling even closer. Repulsed by the bleeding flesh and the face still screwed up into a shocked expression, I turned back to Nik. The dead creature’s body had collapsed and he stood panting on top of its headless torso, his head shifting to the other monster.
Behind me Chara screamed in agony and this only seemed to motivate Nik further, as he launched himself at the remaining half breed, his eyes blazing ferociously. Kieran sprung too and soon managed to slice off one of the Daemon’s wings. The half breed roared but in that fraction of a second Jayson moved; slashing his blade through one of its spined legs.
The creature lost its balance immediately, and Nik took this opportunity to stab it though the heart. The creature screamed, toppling forwards. Before it even hit the floor Nik had struck again, tearing its head from its shoulders gruesomely.
Instantly all three men rushed over us. I was holding onto Chara’s hand, whispering false assurances in her ears, as Nik dived down before her, his dark expression conveying dawning terror. It was painful to watch those petrified eyes as they realised the source of her wound.
The venom was now blackening a circle around the bite marks. I could see it gradually making its way into her veins, darkening them too.
Chara was screaming again, such high intense screams that hurt my ears. Nik had doubled himself over her, his head buried in her stomach hopelessly. His shoulders were shaking as he cried silent tears.
“Kieran can’t you do something?” Nik whispered brokenly to Kieran.
Kieran’s face had gone pale but hard. “We need to get her out of here.”
Jayson rushed off to the door we came through but returned seconds later with a fearful look, “It’s locked. I tried kicking it open, but the enchantment works both ways. We’d need that snake to get back out.”
“Wait,” I said, glancing over to the far side of the room. “There’s a door over there.” I pointed to a new-looking wooden door directly facing me.
Nik nodded, moving to lift Chara but she screamed again, the pain seemingly intensifying. Her dark eyes were masked by a layer of agony; it was unbearable to watch. Nik once again turned desperately to Kieran, a question already planted on his quivering lips; but Kieran spoke first.
“I can’t take away her pain Nik. The venom is one of the strongest in the world; it’s no match for me.” He shook his head sadly.
“I could try to put her to sleep,” I offered.
Nik glanced at me, then at Chara, who was writhing and convulsing violently in his arms and said, “Okay.” He then spoke soothingly to Chara, “Ruby is going to put you to sleep my darling. So you won’t feel the pain.”
Through her pain I could see she understood his every word, and she nodded, all the while arching her back; trying desperately to escape the venom eating at her. I rushed forwards immediately, my hands sweeping over her forehead, more to help me concentrate than anything else. I cleared my mind, took deep breath, and began my mother’s enchanting lullaby.
Then I experienced something that I never had before. Because Chara was so distracted by the pain, she wasn’t influenced by my voice. I strengthened my voice, and then again when my attempts failed.
Kieran realised the reason I was struggling and came closer, “You need to relax more Chara. I know it’s hard, but the pain will only go if you relax.”
I felt her try. I could tell she was trying, but it was too difficult under the circumstances. My eyes were closed now, my eyelids twitching as I forced my voice to become more intense; more than I’d ever needed to before. It was difficult to focus solely on Chara too; I could feel the others unintentionally drifting off. Then finally I felt my energy fading and I knew it’d worked. When I opened my eyes I saw that Chara’s were closed.
As soon as my influential voice stopped the others bolted awake and set straight to action. Nik demanded, “How long will that last?”
I shook my head, “Not long. Another ten minutes.”
He then snapped at Kieran, panicking, “How long does Chara have?”
“Same answer,” Kieran stated emotionlessly, his face entirely blank.
Nik instantly carried Chara’s sleeping form over to the door which Jayson yanked open. I followed shortly behind, staggering against the sudden exhaustion that gripped me. The world seemed to be pinning me down again and I was struggling to get up. I didn’
t feel it as my body fell from underneath me, but I felt it as strong arms caught me.
“Keep going.” Kieran said.
He pulled me up so his arms were draped supportively over my shoulders and he half-carried me over to the door; my eyelids drooping. They snapped right open when I saw what we’d stumbled upon. It was the smell that hit me first, the smell of harsh disinfectant and stale blood, filling my nostrils along with a wave of nausea. I glanced around the room frantically, as my eyes adjusted to the sudden blinding light. My eyes first noticed red through the whiteness, crimson spots glistened on the polished floor.
I looked up and saw a severed wing. It hung gruesomely by several steel clamps attached to a metal wire, which dangled a foot below the ceiling. The feathers had clumped together, matted with dried blood, and loose feathers hovered precariously by threads. It stunk of rotting meat and some foreign flesh preserver. My vision didn’t fixate on the wing for long; it soon settled on what was lying on a huge metal gurney in the centre of the room. I felt bile rising in my throat, nearly spilling out of my mouth.
I had to look away, forcing my face into Kieran’s shoulder, but the image was still imprinted on the back of my eyelids. A body, a Phoenix body had been pinned down by wooden stakes. There was one pierced through its remaining wing, the other stuck through the bone of its tail, making movement impossible. Its other wing had been ripped off, or sawn off by the looks off it. The wound had been healed badly and rough, raised scar tissue covered where feathers no longer grew. However that wasn’t the worst part.
Slowly opening my eyes again, I took another look at unfortunate creatures back. From the base of its skull to just above its tail, the beautiful crimson feathers had been plucked out and the flesh surrounding was bumpy and inflamed. In the middle of this naked stream of skin was a massive bisecting laceration.
The folds of its flesh had been peeled and pinned into position with huge metal clamps. The raw tissues had been cut deep, chiselled away from the bone to display the spine. The spinal column was a dull grey colour for ninety percent of the way down, but the last two vertebrae were glowing with an extremely faint golden light. I knew instantly who’d done this.
Alvira.
Just then I saw movement to my right.
A small man was hiding in the corner of the room. He watched us, squinting with beady eyes, and then stood up sharply, exclaiming: “You killed those beastly creatures didn’t you? I’m so glad.”
His face lit into a gleaming grin, but I saw that his teeth were crooked, half-missing and black with gum disease. His hair was similarly unkempt, in short messy dreadlocks, and his skin was clogged with dirt and sweat.
“Who are you?” Kieran demanded.
“I am my Lady’s servant,” he grinned again, glancing over at the motionless body on the gunnery. “I look after her.”
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed,” Kieran said casually. “But you’ve not done a very good job. There are bits of her scattered everywhere.”
“What is in those bottles?” Nik demanded, staring at the thousands of bottles lining the shelved walls, all various sizes, shapes and colours.
“Remedies. Antidotes. A few sleeping drugs and healing creams. All sorts of medical equipment,” he nodded with crazy eyes to Chara. “It looks like she needs some of it.”
“Do you have anything for Red-Ring venom?” Nik asked desperately. He knew it was a long shot; but it was worth a try.
The crazy little man laughed. “There is no cure for that venom. Your only chance is to suck the poison out immediately.”
Nik instantly lowered Chara to the ground. I noticed that the veins in her leg had blackened all the way up to her knee.
“I’ll have to do it Nik,” Kieran said. “If you swallow even a tiny bit you could be permanently damaged. If anyone, I have a better shot.”
After a brief pause Nik nodded and moved to Chara’s side, taking one of her hands in his and cupping the other against his sweating face. Kieran let me go and we both kneeled down before her. Kieran then lowered his head and touched his lips to the cut. From where I stood he could have been kissing her ankle.
The moment he bit down and began sucking the wound Chara’s eyes flung open and her face contorted in sudden agony; she screamed.
“Chara, Chara, I’m here. I’m with you,” Nik whispered, tears filling his eyes as Chara looked searchingly around; as if blinded by the poison. Despite this, Nik continued; “Kieran’s getting rid of all the poison. You’ll be fine.”
Kieran pulled back suddenly and spat on the ground beside him; his spit came up like black tar mixed with a lot of blood. I could see the bluish blackness in Chara’s veins fading the tiniest bit.
Nik was stroking her face soothingly now. “You can fight this, darling.” He whispered; his voice breaking. “After all we’ve been through you can fight this. Remember when we lost our baby? They thought you’d die then but you pulled through. And when we nearly didn’t escape Kariak? We all nearly didn’t make it then. But we did.”
Tears were streaming down my face now, my heart felt like it was breaking. Chara had always accepted me, right from the very beginning; if she died I’d lose a great friend. Someone who I knew I could depend on.
Chara’s screams had died down, but the pain was still flashing in her eyes and her body was still convulsing terribly. Kieran pulled back and spat again, this time slightly more blood than black venom. Nik continued talking.
“We’ve always had each other Chara, even when there was no one else,” his voice was barely coherent through the bubbling sobs, but Chara’s unseeing face turned in his direction. “We never needed anyone else. I never needed anyone else. It was only ever you.” He leaned forward as Chara’s eyes rolled back into her head. Her breathing was becoming terrifyingly shallow and slow, and Nik buried his face in her hair. “Stay with me, my love. Don’t leave me yet. I’m not ready for you to leave yet.” His voice cracked and his whole body shook as he cried bitter tears.
Kieran was still working, still spitting out the black poison until there was only blood that splattered onto the ground. When this happened he leaned back and raised two fingers to her neck, looking for a pulse. His face was blank, no tears were in his eyes as he shook his head at Nik.
“No!” Nik half-screamed half-cried.
A broken sob escaped from me. Once it was out more followed and I leaned forwards, my head resting on my most beloved friend’s chest. This was entirely my fault. I shouldn’t have brought her here. I knew there was something wrong but I was too damn stupid to care.
As I cried I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Jayson, and even he was crying. I felt as if the world had ended, like a gigantic crack had opened up in the ground and swallowed me whole. Then I heard a faint flutter of hope.
I bolted upright. “Her heart’s beating!” I cried.
Nik sat up too, a thread of hope building in his bloodshot eyes. He placed his hand over her heart and his face exploded into sudden elation, “It’s true!”
“Get her out of here,” Kieran ordered, and Nik immediately scooped her up into his arms. “Take her to the infirmary; straight away. If you’re quick she might still have a chance. You,” he snapped at the strange little man who I’d forgotten all about. “Where’s the way out?”
The little man pondered for a second, then pointed off in a certain direction. Nik raced that way immediately and Kieran said to Jayson, “Follow him, make sure she’s okay. We’ll be out as soon as possible.”
Jayson nodded frantically then jogged after Nik. My eyes followed them as they raced through a door and disappeared. I wiped away my tears, wanting so badly to follow them, but I knew we needed to at least do something about the dead body lying on the table.
The peculiar little man danced over and he pointed accusingly at Kieran, “You know don’t you? You know she still can’t be saved.”
Kieran looked suddenly deeply sad, and he nodded.
“What?” I demanded, new tears filli
ng my eyes again. “But her heart is beating. All the venom is gone, she’ll be-“
“Red-Ring venom, even when it’s out of the bloodstream, leaves what we call a mark. Even if she survives the next few hours the mark will still take hold of her. She’ll lose her sight first and die within two months, five at most.” Kieran’s voice had turned cold and empty. “I guess it’s why Lynk had chosen a Red-Ring; so that nobody except him, or you, would be safe from it.”
The breath that escaped my lips was cold and my whole body felt numb as I watched as Kieran slowly walked over to the body, which I assumed had been long dead. Except… was the Lurah still active after death?
“You poor bastard,” Kieran breathed, looking over the ruined body.
“It is so very frustrating,” said the little man with a strange tone, a light very calm tone. “So very frustrating,” he repeated, his beady eyes drifting off into the corner. “My Lady is in so much pain. I try to help her. I can only do so much.” His voice went oddly quiet again, “So very frustrating.”
It was only then that I noticed the shackles snaring his feet and the hundreds of tiny white scars covering his shins. As I looked up I saw more coating his arms.
I want to die.
I jumped as the voice suddenly washed through my mind. My neck snapped up in shock. The bird was still alive? How long had it been there? And for what purpose? I walked around the body, trying not to look at the gaping incision. The smell of chemicals was overpowering. As me and Kieran faced the Phoenix I could see that its eyes were open. They were a beautiful shade of yellow, flecked with streaks of amber. She was female.
I knew those eyes from somewhere.
Please, her mindvoice was so faint. Please kill me. I want to die.
“How long have you been here?” I asked, my eyes wide and frightened. “And why?”
Risen (The Firebird Trilogy Book 2) Page 37