Chapter 13 #2
Ransom darted closer and thrust his hand into the purple dust pile. He dragged out Talon, who now resembled a purple teddy bear with a big nose. Ransom set him on solid ground, and Talon shook himself.
Scarlett chortled at Talon’s ruffled manner, and he turned a glare on her and bared his teeth with a hiss.
Now he reminded her of a pissed toy bear. Her grin widened. “Haw-haw-haw.”
Talon marched closer, his glare evil.
Scarlett’s smile faded. Talon’s big nose twitched, and he sneezed, sending up a cloud of purple dust. He sneezed, again and again, each time raising a cloud of dust.
Finally, he gave a tiny sniff and bared his teeth at Scarlett. He lifted one of his clawed hands and pointed at her trews, which were now black and purple. “Haw-haw-haw.”
“Look here, you wee growling ball of fluff.” She took two steps, and Talon darted behind Ransom.
“Why me?” Ransom muttered. “Attention. Since I’m the only adult present, we’re going this way.”
“Watch out for traps,” Scarlett warned, her head back in the game.
Talon, too, ceased his teasing and took on a serious air.
The three of them crept forward, taking a gap between two rows of purple boxes.
Ransom shone the lamp in all directions, and a loud hiss began.
Talon scuttled behind Ransom, and Scarlett didn’t tease him.
The hissing set her nerves jangling. She spotted hundreds of the creatures Ransom had called worms. These were various shades of purple, unlike the one that had attached itself to Talon.
“Why is everything purple in here?” she asked. “Purple used to be my favorite color, but those boxes are giving me the creeps.”
Talon squeaked several times, his head bobbing, so she figured he agreed. Agh! Her arm. The itching was driving her crazy.
Talon growled at her. Frying fungus!
“You’ll make an excellent parent,” Scarlett commented. “You have eyes in the back of your head.”
“Stop bickering,” Ransom snapped. “Quiet! Can you hear that?”
Scarlett scratched her arm and didn’t care if Talon snarled. She shouldn’t have trusted those insect-men. The man who’d bitten her had left something behind, and Talon was in on the secret. It was frustration to the nth degree because she couldn’t even interrogate the wee beastie.
She angled her head and discerned a faint bubbling.
“A gurgling sound.” She plucked at her tunic, which was sticking to her torso. “It’s getting hotter in here.”
“Yes.” Ransom wiped his hand across his sweaty brow.
“Is that lava we can hear?”
“I hope not.” Ransom’s tone suggested he thought otherwise. “Wait. I'll expire of this heat if I don’t strip off my tunic.”
“Ooh! Wonderful idea.” Scarlett peeled off her tunic. She tied it around her waist for easy access. Her arm. Frying fungus, it itched. She turned to the light cast by the lamp and swore. “Talon, you wee beastie. What did that Quito man put in my arm?”
“Let me look,” Ransom said.
His touch was gentle as he turned her a fraction to study the two bulging purple swellings. They pulsated and jiggled. Creeeepy. Her preternatural senses preached danger, and every foreign sound made her start. She loathed this underground prison and couldn’t wait to flee.
“Is it painful?”
“No, but they’re uncomfortable.”
“Talon, come here,” Ransom spoke in a no-nonsense tone, reminding Scarlett of her oldest brother.
Talon trotted over, his expression innocent. A pity his eyes betrayed him. Their shrewd intelligence indicated he had answers.
“Will these injure Scarlett?”
Talon waggled his head.
“Will they grow bigger?”
Talon again did a negative shake.
“Should I dig them out?”
Talon shook his head harder and swelled in size.
“Scarlett, can you bear the discomfort until we leave this chamber? I’ll dig them out for you then.”
Talon didn’t make a protest at this decision, so she nodded. She glanced around and whispered, “What’s our plan when we find the prince? If he’s expecting a kiss from his true love to awaken him, one of you can do it.”
“Haw-haw-haw.”
Ransom chuckled. “What Talon said. You guys ready to move again?”
Scarlett gave her upper arm a sly itch. “Let’s do this.”
She trailed Ransom, and as they rounded a corner, the bubbling became louder, the heat higher.
“Not this way.” Scarlett halted beside Ransom.
The entire wall of the chamber glowed orange and red. Trickles of lava ran down the wall.
“We’ll backtrack.” Ransom held his head as if it was aching.
Scarlett squeezed his arm. “Shore up your mental barriers. Make it difficult for him to get into your mind.”
“It’s hard to concentrate.”
“You can do this. Don’t let him win.”
They retreated and hurried in the other direction, forging a path through the stacks of purple boxes. Something—maybe a quake—had toppled the top layer of boxes. One lay in the way, the lid open.
“It’s a body,” Scarlett said. “Or what remains of one. The box isn’t big. A child?”
Ransom lifted it out of the way, and they moved onward, following a lit path through the warren of stacked boxes. In the distance, a faint light glowed.
“Where is the prince’s security force?” Scarlett asked.
“Don’t jinx us. They might spring at us from the next corner.”
“Hmm, an excellent point.”
They slowed their pace and trod with caution. Heat still radiated through the chamber but not as bad as it had been near the wall of lava. Scarlett’s gaze traveled back and forth, each of her senses attuned to her surroundings. A faint hum sounded. Scarlett grasped Ransom’s forearm and squeezed.
“I hear it,” he murmured. “How is your head?”
“The pressure at my temples is increasing.”
“Mine too,” Ransom whispered.
The area between the stacks of boxes—coffins—widened, and she stepped up beside Ransom. Talon pushed between them, his clawed hands gripping both their legs.
One box sat on a raised dais. This one was clear, and she glimpsed something purple inside.
“What do we do?” Scarlett asked, studying the buttons on the box’s side.
Before Ransom could answer or they’d discussed the situation, Talon darted forward and clambered up a set of steps she hadn’t noticed.
“Talon, no!” Ransom shouted.
Ransom took half a step forward as did she, but it was too late. Talon’s clawed hands slapped buttons, and the lid of the box lifted.
Scarlett shared a glance with Ransom, and he shrugged.
“Might as well see what’s inside,” he said.
Talon growled and jumped back. He sidled up to Scarlett and clung to her leg. Funny, the wee monster snapped and snarled and teased her, yet expected protection in return.
Before they could peer into the box, a purple form sat up.
He was bald with a delicate nose and ears.
Silvery whorls and a design of snaking curves covered half of his face.
A wide yawn displayed a set of pointy teeth, much like the ones of the Elevenoss race.
The man wore a purple cloak trimmed with what appeared white feathers.
Apart from that, he was naked. He stretched and turned to glare at them.
“You took long enough!”
The imperious voice was one she’d heard before. The time he’d tried to force his way into her head and failed.
Skinny purple arms raised, stretched, and the prince stabbed another button.
The side lowered, and shiny steps emerged with a whirr.
He plopped a glittering crown on his head, then stood and wobbled a fraction before he gained his balance.
He lifted his head and descended the stairs to stand before them.
“You brought the woman. Excellent.” His gaze raked her, and he sniffed. “She will do to restart my population.”
“I refuse to let that little dick near me.” The purple prince didn’t even come up to her hip.
“Scarlett,” Ransom warned.
She sent him a side-eye. No way! She leaped at the prince and had a moment of satisfaction as the purple being’s eyes widened. He raised his hands as if to hold her off, and in the next instant, she froze in position, unable to move her limbs. “Let me go, you purple moron.”
“Ah, excellent. A feisty one. The crying females are no fun.”
“Release her,” Ransom thundered, taking a giant, intimidating step forward. “Grata!” The prince had frozen him too. “This is the way you treat those who’ve come to release you from your prison?”
Scarlett forced back her panic. At least Talon couldn’t growl at her for scratching. A thought occurred. “Where are your people?”
“All gone,” the prince said without a trace of concern.
“Where?” Scarlett blurted. Had each purple box contained a body rather than a man or woman ready to awaken?
The prince waved his hand as if it were of no consequence. “They made the ultimate sacrifice.”
Ransom’s facial muscles formed a frown. “The ultimate sacrifice?”
“They fed me when I required food.” His tone was matter-of-fact as if it was no big deal that every single one of his people was dead. “Why did you bring him? I have no use for a youngling. I can’t feed on him because his brain is underdeveloped.”
Talon cowered, acting the ninny, and Scarlett narrowed her eyes at his odd behavior. She glanced at Ransom, relieved she could move her head at least. If they could figure out how to break free, they could take this little purple squirt without breaking a sweat.
Scarlett willed Ransom to glance her way so she could attempt to communicate her plan. The lava heated the chamber, and the temperature had risen since they’d entered. Somehow, they’d best His Royal Purpleness and get the hell out of here.
Meantime, they’d keep him talking. He gave off pompous vibes—a man who enjoyed hearing himself talk.
“What did you mean you don’t like the crying ones?” Scarlett asked. What was Talon doing? The wee beastie had a plan. She could tell. So, she’d do her bit and distract the prince.
“His mother.” Prince Kalim jerked his head in Ransom’s direction.
Shock blasted over Ransom’s features.
Damn. What had she blundered into with her nosy questions?
“What are you talking about?” Ransom demanded. “My mother died.”
“Yes,” the prince said. “Rotations ago, I captured your father’s mind. I was initially cautious because my advisors couldn’t predict how their trap would work on a dragon. We knew it killed the Elevenoss race, but dragons are stronger in mind.”
Scarlett glanced at Ransom and understood the glassy shock in his eyes. He wasn’t up to yanking answers from the purple moron but she could. He hadn’t mentioned his mother, and she’d assumed she must’ve died when Ransom was a child.
“How did you capture Ransom’s mother?” she asked.
“I wanted a breeding female. Our women are few, and our scientists failed to discover a method to make women in our labs.” The prince stretched his arms and paced, seemingly enjoying an audience.
Scarlett bit back her urge to order him to get them out of this chamber, or it’d become their burial site.
Did he not sense impending danger? Hear the pop of the rocks in the distance?
Feel the rising temperature in the chamber?
Instead, she forced herself to deliberate before voicing her questions.
Nothing too confrontational. She needed to pull answers from him, and the second Talon did whatever he intended to do and freed them, she’d kick the prince’s skinny purple butt.
No way, no way was he getting that little purple dick near her. Heck, perhaps it was a remnant of previous rotations, and the Maphra race didn’t use them.
“How did you get Ransom’s mother?” she asked.
“I did a deal. Baron Drake could continue to feed me or give me his wife. He didn’t value her much.
” Prince Kalim tut-tutted. “I liked her fine until she started weeping. Cry. Cry. Cry. That’s all she did.
She made me lose my temper. Before I knew it, I’d sucked her dry to shut her up.
Unfortunately, I’d kept my word and released your father’s mind. A mistake I won’t make again.”
The prince ceased his pacing and turned to stare at Ransom.
“I’ve learned much while my body has slept.
” He tapped his head. “The knowledge of generations of my people resides here. I have survived despite—in spite—of our enemies, and now with you, beautiful Scarlett, I shall repopulate this planet. We will build our empire on the dragon’s backs. Their hard work shall be our gain.”
Pompous, much! Scarlett glared at Ransom when he started to refute the prince’s plans.
Talon climbed up her leg, his sharp claws digging into her flesh. She ripped her gaze off the prince to remonstrate, but he shook his shaggy head and made a shushing gesture with his clawed hand.
“How will you do that?” Scarlett asked. “They will fight you.”
“They won’t see me coming,” the prince boasted. “You are under my control. We shall travel to the dragons. I can skim the brain energy to remain alive and contain my powers. Nothing will stop me.”
“Me. I will stop you,” Scarlett snapped. “You can’t force me to breed your offspring.”
“You have sentimental feelings for this dragon.” Prince Kalim had resumed pacing, but he paused to point an accusing finger in Ransom’s direction. “I’m not stupid. He thinks he loves you. Mawkish, sentimental rubbish.”
He loved her? Something inside her melted at the knowledge, and she closed her eyes to savor the warmth that filled her. She opened them to glance at Ransom. It was easy to tell his brain was busy. Her feline stirred beneath her skin. Ah! Could she shift and force her body out of this frozen spell?
“Bah!” The prince glowered at her in distaste. “I shall order the dragons to build a lab where I shall harvest your eggs.”
“Well, that’s a relief,” Scarlett muttered, flexing her feline and relaxing her guard.
A sharp crack echoed in the distance, and a metallic lava scent drifted their way. It reminded her of the odor produced when she made her jewelry, and it was much closer now. Frying fungus, one of them had to do something. Now.