Chapter 32 #2
From the ruined pit lunged an enormous white serpent.
I had barely registered this last horror of Socotran folktales coming to life before the snake hurled itself at me. I threw
myself out of the way, rolling to hide in the emptied creek bed as the serpent smashed into the spot where I had been standing
hard enough to split the rock. I covered my head, stone shards flying everywhere.
But now the smell of sea air wasn’t faint—it was palpable. It was on a breeze , an undeniable whisper of ocean air teasing my face.
Dunya said that al-Dabaran had to see the Moon . God, could that mean...
Foolishly hopeful, I glanced up to see what sort of damage the snake had done. It had shattered part of the rock, but not
enough to break through the cave entirely. The serpent was coiling around, seeming to have trouble with its vast bulk in the
confined space.
Taking advantage of its struggle, I raced for the rift in the cave wall.
I could feel the breeze more strongly now, through a gap barely the size of my fist. With no better options, I slashed at the gap with my sword.
But new strength or not, the weapon was not meant to break through rocks.
The steel cracked and then shattered as I struck out again and again, leaving me with only the hilt.
“Nakhudha, the eclipse is going to end!”
At Dunya’s cry, the snake hissed and perhaps realizing it had an easier target, it darted in her direction.
“Dunya, run!” I shouted. I could do nothing else for her; al-Dabaran had called the snake and the only way we were going to
defeat it was if we defeated him . I threw myself into trying to widen the gap, bashing at the stone with the broken sword hilt, crying out in frustration
as my hands grew bloody, and all I had to show for it was a few flying splinters of rock. If I had weeks, I might make a hole
big enough for me to crawl out of it. As it was, we had mere minutes, if that.
From beyond the cave, I heard the muffled screech of the scorpion marid. Not only in my head this time—it was out there, swimming
in the sea nearby. In my mind, its presence had grown more insistent and needy , pounding like the world’s worst hangover. I swore. Did the creature truly need to harass me now ? I had already freed it!
I had already freed it.
They have strongly held beliefs about favors . That last word, the one Khayzur had struggled to spit out. Dunya screamed again, sounding far more terrified.
Desperate, I did what I never wanted to do. I closed my eyes, pulled as hard as I could on the presence in my head, and threw
myself at the mercy of a magical creature.
The marid’s presence poured through my mind, my blood running cold as my eyes were snapped back open without me controlling
the motion. The world was eerily gray, the marid seeming to survey the scene through my gaze. The snake chasing Dunya. Al-Dabaran
wailing and spewing spiders. The salty-sweet ocean breeze whistling through the narrow gap in the cave wall...
The water trickling beneath my feet abruptly transformed.
It wound around my ankle like a liquid rope and tossed me clear across the cave.
I crashed into Dunya, the two of us rolling in the protected niche as if we were a part of some grand monster ball game.
Pain ripped through my body, but I barely noticed.
Because a gargantuan stinger came slicing through the cave wall.
A second strike sent seawater surging in. A third and a fourth. I could feel the marid’s power and frustration, and I was
starting to fear nothing could break through the cave before a fifth blow of the marid’s mighty tail ripped apart the rock.
A shaft of moonlight spilled inside.
Al-Dabaran rushed to the illuminated spot. He ran his fingers over the moonlight, wailing in grief and despair. It was a sound
that cut through any differences between us.
For I too wanted to go home.
Acting on instinct, I grabbed the Moon of Saba out of Dunya’s hands and threw the silver basin to the feet of the lunar being
it had trapped for so long. Al-Dabaran gave me one last wild look—madness and thanks and relief—the eclipse vanishing from
Falco’s transformed eyes. Then he slammed his staff into the silver basin.
This time the Moon of Saba did a lot more than crack.
The moonlight brightened so explosively I had to turn away. The serpent was hissing, wind was ripping around us, sending insects
and debris everywhere. With a final howl, a presence ripped from Falco’s body with enough force to send a wave of pressure ricocheting across the cave. I scrambled back beneath
the outcropping, sheltering Dunya as best I could while rocks, broken bronze mirrors, and shattered stalactites rained down
around us.
It was probably only a few moments but it felt like forever, waiting to be crushed by a boulder or pierced by wreckage. Finally
the cave stopped quaking. I waited until the only sound was Dunya’s and my ragged breathing. Then I lifted my head.
The entire half of the chamber facing the sea was destroyed. The ocean had poured in to flood the lower part, but mercifully, there was a clear way to climb out, a shard of midnight beach just visible. But our path to freedom wasn’t the only thing I saw.
I saw the marid. The great hulk of its healing body and its glittering cluster of eyes meeting my two. Its stinger sliced
across the stars like an ebony dagger and its presence in my mind coiled tight one last time, the golden bond between us briefly
manifesting.
Then ever so slowly, the tether dissipated. I couldn’t fathom how these creatures communicated, but as the marid vanished
beneath the black water and slowly unwound from my mind, I would swear it was calling us even.
Dunya peeked up. “Is al-Dabaran gone?”
An excellent question . “I certainly hope so.” I cleared the rubble away from where we had sheltered, thanking God for my new strength. The enormous
white snake, the insects... all were gone, perhaps fleeing the destruction to whatever deeper cave tunnels and chambers
they called home. My ruined sword was long gone, but I kept the meteor blade in one hand as I helped Dunya out and pointed
her toward the edge of the cave that met the sea.
“Go. I will meet you there. I want to get out of here before that snake decides to come back, but there is one more thing
I need to do.”
Dunya didn’t question me. I watched her pick her way carefully over the rocks. Then I turned to my final task.
Al-Dabaran had ripped out of Falco with a force that had hurled the Frank across the ruined chamber like he was a reed doll.
But I could hear his panting breath as I strode across the broken floor.
The man who’d intended to remake a land that was not his, with stolen magic he could not understand—the man who had arrived on the blood of butchered innocents and taken even more lives in Socotra—now lay pinned beneath a shattered boulder that had crushed his left leg and pelvis.
Blood trickled from his mouth and dust coated his face, his sash of pilgrim badges lying in tatters and his bleary eyes taking in the sight of me standing over him.
“Al-Sirafi...” he wheezed. “Come to gloat?”
“No.” Falco’s wound was almost certainly fatal, promising a more lingering, painful death than I could grant him. But I did
not believe in leaving threats to fester, and this fiend had killed enough.
Falco struggled to raise his head as I drew closer. “If you would just listen... the things I saw in al-Dabaran’s mind—
wait !” he cried hoarsely as the tip of my dagger met his breast. “Just give me—”
“You have taken up enough of my time.” I shoved the blade through his heart.
His gaze brightened with a moment of panic, his body jerking in response. But it was only a moment. Then Falco lay still,
blood spreading across his chest.
I wiped the dagger on his cloak and walked away.
Dunya was waiting for me, hugging her knees to her chest as she sat on a flat rock overlooking the sea. The little scholar
had shown incredible valor in thwarting Falco the way she did, and I could tell she was fighting to hold that courage, though
her entire body trembled when her wide brown eyes met mine.
“Did you... is it done?” she whispered.
“It is done.” I wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Come, child. Let’s get out of here.”