Chapter 17 #2
“Try first,” she suggested, and I obediently pushed the pieces of fabric in my ears and smirked when she tried her best to yell at me and test their effectiveness. I judged them good enough but I could tell she was worried so I pulled her into my arms and held her tightly against my chest.
“I am strong, I will defeat him this time. All will be fine,” I assured her as I rocked her gently.
She had seen me injured and downed twice now, I was determined this third round with the revenant was going to be the last. The thing had to have a weakness, and with one of his weapons disabled, I was certain I could find it.
Of course, right when we parted so I could open our door, I could hear a noise coming from the other side.
Our time was up, the revenant was coming to see how his experiment was going.
Farah quickly backed into a corner, cradling Buzz in her arms while Srazz pushed against her legs.
I curled myself against the wall next to the doorway, my ears already plugged, and my knives at the ready.
I would have preferred to use my trident, but it was likely still stuck in that medical device inside the other room.
Light spilled into our little prison, the revenant’s shoulders filled the doorway, and his white mock scales glittered brightly.
I couldn’t be sure, but as I caught sight of the half of his head that still resembled a Naga, I felt like I’d seen that face before.
I just couldn’t place where. The only Naga with white scales I knew was Artek, the Shaman, and it was definitely not him.
I fought my instincts to attack at the sight; stifling a growl inside my chest. There was no way I would make the same mistake twice, I would defeat this monster this time.
My breath stuck in my chest as the growl faded and I remained frozen in place until he’d passed the threshold.
Bolting forward as soon as he had his back to me, his face focused on my mate, I slammed my knives into his neck.
My obsidian stone blades met ancient metal and lost the battle, shattering into a thousand pieces, but one had struck true, catching a bundle of wires between the metal vertebrae.
Sparks sizzled across the scales of my hand, they burned into my flesh, and then the revenant started its screeching.
I grinned wildly when the sound came through so muffled that it did not hurt me, it was working!
Now all I needed to do was find its off-switch, and I was very good at that kind of thing.
***
Farah
My heart was in my throat when I watched Zeidon fight the evil snake terminator robot.
At any point, I expected those razor-sharp knives to explode from all over the machine’s long body and tail, cutting into him again just like last time.
Zeidon had the upper hand when he caught it by surprise; he slammed his black stone knives into the machine’s neck area with a ferocious growl.
I had to hold back Srazz as the small animal raised his spiky rump and snarled; he was ready to join the fight.
“No, stay here,” I warned him, though I felt his desire keenly myself.
If I had a weapon right now, I would have tried to stab that stupid machine myself.
Buzz fluttered anxiously with his wings on my shoulder but at least my little buddy had learned the hard way that he was no match for that thing.
“Release me,” the machine demanded, its snarling sounds resolving itself into words I could understand.
I was not touching Zeidon right now, but it still worked, I could still hear what the machine said as it started making demands.
Whatever my guy had done, it had frozen the machine in place.
“I am Vrash, your leader! You must obey me!”
Zeidon raised his hands and the hilts of his broken knives clattered to the ground, punctuating the robot’s petulant words.
He was not as scary when he couldn’t fight back.
With a snarl, he grabbed the robot’s head in his fists and yanked.
The metal groaned and screeched, the robot screeched too, and then things started separating.
It was all over so quickly that I blinked and stared for a few long seconds in surprise.
The machine’s body started collapsing, crashing to the floor with a thundering noise, and the head remained in Zeidon’s hands and glared malevolently at me.
“I will banish you,” he said, and its voice gained a hitch that made it extra creepy when coming from a head without a body.
A static that made me think it was starting to malfunction, worse than it had already.
Zeidon did not respond to its words, but his ears were still blessedly plugged to protect them from that screeching attack.
It did not affect me the same as it did him, giving me nothing more than a vague feeling of discomfort but I’d seen how devastating it was to Zeidon’s sense of balance.
Our ploy had worked, and I was left with this deeply unsettled feeling.
This was too easy, after losing to the machine twice in devastating fashion, how could it have been so simple this time?
I dropped my hands from around Sraz’s chest and uncurled from my position in the corner.
I’d served as the distraction, pulling the robot’s eyes in my direction so that Zeidon could make his move, but that too seemed too easy now.
“What did you want from us?” I asked the machine, though I held no hope that it could actually understand what I said.
It snarled, its half-machine, half-Naga face pulling grotesquely.
I raised my eyes from that gold and red stare to look at Zeidon and noticed that he was frowning, a hint of uncertainty in his eyes that mirrored how I felt.
He dropped the robotic head and it thumped to the stone floor and rolled into a corner.
With a loop of his long tail, he shoved against the collapsed body.
That was definitely not moving, though the head had not shut off.
When he risked pulling the stuffing from his ears we both hurriedly glanced at the head to see if it would try its screech again.
It remained silent and motionless but I was not fooled, its gaze was focused on both of us, biding its time.
For what, I did not know. I hoped it did not have more tricks to play on us or more scary weapons it could deploy.
“What did it say?” he asked, glaring at the head as he slithered over our downed foe to reach me.
I was relieved when he pulled me into his arms and I could put my ear to his chest and hear the steady beat of his heart.
Maybe it really was this simple, we’d caught it off guard, and we just needed to find an exit now.
I rolled a shoulder, “Just idle threats and its name. Vrash? Does that mean anything to you?” Zeidon’s spiky brows went up, they were stiffer than my own brows but he still managed to raise them in surprise this time.
So that did ring a bell. I gazed back at the head and took in the features on the whole half of its face.
That was just so creepy and unnatural-looking, that uncanny valley-type stuff.
“Yes, Vrash,” Zeidon said, he pushed me behind him and lowered himself to look at the head of the robot.
“So you’re the one who created Ahoshaga.
I’ve seen your apparition, your welcome message.
” I did not know what he meant, but I was sure he’d explain it to me later.
His words evoked a reaction from the machine, its eyes glowing brighter, its mouth opening.
I fully expected the screech now, Zeidon did too because he raised his hands in reflex toward his head.
All that came out was a crackling laughter, “Yes! My masterwork. Put me back together and I will reward you with places at my side as we rebuild this world. As we create perfection and beauty from the ashes of our civilization.”
It continued talking, but Zeidon lost interest and rose.
“Let’s get out of here, Precious,” he said.
I couldn’t agree more, the sooner we put these tunnels and the creepy lab behind us, the better.
The robot head kept prattling on and on about how he was going to rebuild Serant in his image, how he was going to create the perfect Naga with our help.
As we climbed over his downed body his voice raised and the urgency in his tone increased.
Then Zeidon shut the door on him and we were left with the noise of bubbling vats and pipes but nothing more.