51. Enna
Chapter fifty-one
Enna
The dredgebeast’s tongue squeezes tighter, pressing the lifeforce from my breaking body. I wriggle against her death grip, to no avail. She pulls hard, and my tail splits, ripping down the seam punctured on her tooth. The pain is sharp and everywhere all at once, but I don’t have the energy to scream. A whimper escapes my lips.
You will not leave me.
A chill races down my spine as the words float down from somewhere outside myself. That voice—a deep, rumbling baritone—I would recognize it anywhere. How Soren found me here at the end, I have no idea. Maybe it’s my subconscious mind, providing me with a nugget of comfort just before the lights go out.
It’s always just been me, hasn’t it? I look out for myself. There’s no one else, has never been since the day Odissa killed my father. I’m doing it even now. How kind of me.
Dammit, Enna!
The voice is louder now. I must be close to the end.
I suppose this is true to form, dying in the fight for my life. When the beast swallows me whole, it won’t be quick, and it won’t be painless. I will pass into her belly, where a sea of acid will dissolve my flesh piece by piece. I will scream—if I still can—and no one will hear me but the skeletons in the dredge that lines her gut. No one can save me from this. I am completely alone, here in the moment of my death.
Like bars on a prison cell, the teeth descend, interlocking. The beast closes her jaw.
Her tongue lifts me high, the soft gray flesh of her soft palette closes in. If I was stronger, I might latch on to it with my claws, slice the beast right where it hurts. But my arms are pinned to my sides, and my mind grows weary. The beast has bested me. Let her take her prize.
FIGHT, DAMMIT! I WILL NOT LOSE YOU. YOU HAVE TO FIGHT.
Pressure at my hand, a dull squeeze. My fingers twitch; my pinky extends, wrapping firmly around something soft, warm, solid. Then the words become a Voice, the soft, mournful note vibrating through my bones.
I gasp. Warmth spreads from my stomach and with it a sudden wash of energy. It burns deeper, hotter, a raging inferno now. My arms regain their strength; my claws find purchase on the beast’s leather tongue. I rip into it with fervor, and handfuls of her meat fall into the base of her mouth, sticking to her gums. She screeches—the sound penetrating my skull—and the tongue loosens enough for me to wriggle free. I dash for the roof of her mouth, finding the soft cavity behind her palette. My claws sink deep, and my frenzy begins.
Tearing piece after piece, I burrow tooth and claw into her. Her blood floods my mouth, her stench clings to my nose. Bits of her flesh clump in my hair. I swim no longer in water but in the currents of her blood. Still, I dig. My teeth crack through bone. Around me, the beast’s body quivers and shakes. I can feel her shaking her head, trying to dislodge the parasite from her skull. She lifts the back of her tongue, swallowing in a sucking vortex. But I hold on tight. With every gash I make, she grows weaker, her fight lessens. Gripping the edge of an artery, I punch through it.
The beast screams, unhinging her jaw, and I’m washed out of her mouth in a tide of blood. Her great head dives toward the sea floor, crashing into the garden of bones. With a final moan, she collapses, dead. The bloodfish explode into a frenzy, attaching to every inch of her fresh meat.
I killed a dredgebeast with my bare hands.
Tephra’s chuckle vibrates through the murky water. “Well done, little fish,” she says. “Blood for blood, your oath is complete. Swim freely.”
Darkness descends in a cloak. I blink, opening my eyes to a bright, white room. Soren’s face is the first thing I see, and he’s bawling like a complete idiot.