Chapter 32 #2
I looked at the ongoing battle, noting there were only two heads left.
As if I was going to let the insufferable ass gloat for the rest of eternity about how he had defeated the hydra. Ignoring the pure agony of my left arm, my wings slammed downward, and I shot up from the ground.
“You crazy bastard!” Folkoln howled as I flew to his side.
“Can’t let you have all the glory,” I grunted through the pain.
“Have you ever?” he chuckled.
“Never.” I grinned. “Which one do you want?”
“Left one.”
“Alright.” I set my sights on the right one and launched toward it. A mighty roar sounded from both of us as we clashed in a battle of teeth and sword .
With my good arm, I sent my iron fist, backed by the handle of my sword, into its jaw.
Droplets of the beast’s saliva sprayed into the air before the sap-like gobs answered the call of gravity and rained back down on me.
Before the beast had a chance to retaliate, I delivered my final blow and severed the head clean off.
It slid off the neck and tumbled to the ground below.
I landed and started back toward the group. A few seconds later, Folkoln let out a victorious roar, and the monstrous beast fell on the ground, the stone to trembling beneath my feet.
Folkoln emerged beside me, wings tucking in.
“Took you long enough,” I said, glancing at him.
Fuck you , he mouthed at me, and we both burst into laughter. But the sound was quickly cut off as a surge of pain shot through my left arm. I grunted, dissolving my sword as I reached for my arm to help support it.
When we returned to the group, Lyra and Ryker were kneeling beside Fallon. Her face was scrunched in agony, her hand wrapped around her leg, which she had pulled close to her body. A sharp yellow fang was stuck in her thigh.
Heads swiveled toward us.
Lyra’s mouth fell open, the color leeching from her face.
“Holy shit, Von,” Ryker drawled as he got to his feet, his eyes fixed on my mangled arm. “That doesn’t look good.”
I looked down at it, eyeing the torn bits and pieces.
A chunk of flesh dangled, a small bit of sinew keeping it there.
Gritting my teeth together, I gripped the meat and tore it free, tossing it on the ground.
“Yeah, it’s not great, but it’ll grow back,” I said, continuing to inspect it.
Already, I could see small bits of muscle and tissue slowly beginning to repair. With time, it would heal.
Fallon moaned in pain.
“Fallon?” Kaleb’s groggy voice called out from inside the crevice.
Lyra dashed over to it, disappearing inside. Not long after, she and Kaleb emerged.
“Easy now, tough guy,” Folkoln said as he strolled over to them. “You’ve been out for a while.
“How long?” Kaleb spoke wearily, his arm slung over Lyra’s shoulders.
“About four days,” Folkoln replied.
“Did we all make it?” Kaleb asked.
“Soren is the only one unaccounted for,” Folkoln answered.
Kaleb nodded, drowsy eyes shifting over to us, then—
“Fallon!” he yelled, voice desperate. Seeing her, as she was, must have been like a bolt of electricity, because he was racing over to us. Lyra scrambled after him.
At Fallon’s side, he sank to his knees, their gazes locked.
He slid his shaking fingers to her cheek, and she cupped his hand, her fingers stained with blood.
“It’s going to be okay,” he said. His head jerked up to mine, face etched with worry.
“What do we do?” His eyes locked on my arm, and they grew even larger. “Shit! ”
“It’ll grow back,” I reassured him. “Worry about Fallon.”
“Reassuring,” Fallon grimaced, voice saturated with sarcasm.
“Should we take the fang out?” Ryker asked, looking at me. “Or is it better to leave it in?”
“It’s not the fang I’m worried about,” I said as I surveyed the wound.
Surrounding it, a web of black had started to spider out.
My attention shifted to my arm, looking to see if I, too, had been infected by the hydra’s venom, but I spotted nothing.
Either the toxin hadn’t had a chance to spread yet, or the head that bit me wasn’t venomous.
My gaze returned to Fallon.
Back home, Fallon couldn’t die again because she was already, well, dead. But here, in these foreign lands, I didn’t know what would happen to her soul.
I could suck the venom from her, but if I wasn’t immune to it, like I was with snake venom, that could cause a host of problems—problems that could deter me from getting to Sage, and that was something I was not willing to risk.
“We need to find someone who knows about the hydra’s venom,” I told them. “A healer.”
“Fuck the healer,” Folkoln hissed as he crouched beside Fallon’s wounded leg. His hand wrapped around the broken tooth, and he pulled it out before anyone could stop him.
“Folkoln,” Ryker growled .
But Folkoln paid him no mind. Carelessly, he tossed the fang to the side, sending it skittering against the stone. He bent forward and, with his eyes on Fallon’s, said, “Just remember, Little Bird, out of all these so-called men, who had the balls to save your life today.”
“Folkoln, wait,” I snarled, reaching for him with my good hand—my only hand.
But he flipped his middle finger at me as he placed his mouth against her wound and began to suck out the venom.