Chapter 4 Prince Sloth
FOUR
Prince Sloth
I WRENCHED MYSELF INTO action.
My attention swept across the mountain, searching for an escape.
Fighting nearly a dozen fully grown spiders had been difficult, but with the new numbers circling us, running was the best option, even if we fell down the mountain.
Annoyance flickered through me. I cursed this realm and its first obstacle.
I’d known the nightmares roaming the land wouldn’t be easy to deal with, but this was worse. Especially with the woman’s presence I hadn’t factored in.
I couldn’t fend off that many spiders and guarantee she would survive without a bite. But I could wrap my body around hers if we went over the cliff.
Not ideal, but the plan would suffice.
A bloodcurdling scream sent ice through my veins.
I pivoted in time to see one of the smaller spiders leaping at her.
It was a blur of legs and fangs, too fast and too close for her to escape. With how swiftly it was moving, the impact would knock her off the side of the mountain.
I flung my blade at it, the slick thwack indicating it found its target.
A beat later the spider collapsed in a twitching heap at her feet, its venomous legs mere inches from delivering a fatal blow.
My heart thudded aggressively—that had been too close.
One more second and I would have been too late.
If she’d gone over the edge of the cliff, I would have lost the portal stone and my way out of this realm.
Her frightened eyes met mine before she screamed again.
“Behind you!”
Pain slammed into my side, sharp and flaming.
I looked down, confused by what I saw.
A spider’s leg speared me like a sword.
Seconds later, it wrenched it out, its victory screech splitting the night.
Had I been human, it would have been a killing blow.
My breath hissed through my teeth as warmth flowed out of me, my blood gushing out in a torrent down my side.
I stumbled forward, knees crashing to the ground, and pressed a hand to my wound. It did little to staunch the flow; my fingers were slick within moments.
The world grew dark at the edges, fuzzy.
It wouldn’t be long before the potent venom completely dragged me under, immortal or not.
I gritted my teeth, furious with Xavier for his betrayal again.
What little chance I’d had of picking up his trail was lost now.
“My dagger.”
The woman dropped to her knees before me, her hands fisting in my leathers.
“You can’t fight like this, are you mad?”
Blood seeped through my fingers. “Take… it. And run.”
I wasn’t being altruistic or selfless.
When I recovered, I’d be able to track her with it.
She moved out of view and I released a breath.
That took less convincing than I’d thought it would.
At least she had a decent sense of self-preservation and a subtle ruthlessness I could respect.
My attention shifted.
The mountain loomed like a great beast, its jagged edges clawing at the sky. I squinted, almost convinced the mountain had actually rumbled.
My pulse slowed. The mountain definitely trembled beneath us. Through the haze descending, I was struck with a realization: it was no regular mountain—we’d landed on a volcano.
And it was about to erupt.
Gods-damned nightmares. Of course they’d find a way to literally twist the ground beneath our feet.
I’d hoped my companion had made it far enough away with the portal stone, when she appeared again.
I narrowed my gaze. Surely, surely I was hallucinating and she hadn’t fetched my dagger and rushed back to my side.
I gritted my teeth. “Did you sustain a head injury?”
“No.” She searched my face. “Why?”
I drew in my remaining strength. “I swear I told you to run.”
The woman gave me a scathing look, then muttered something I couldn’t understand, her frustration outweighing her terror.
Perhaps she’d been joking earlier because she was absolutely mad instead of fearless. At the end of her tirade, it sounded like she’d called me an ungrateful, coldhearted prick.
She was only partly correct in that assumption.
My eyes shut but I wrenched them open.
A shadow rose behind her.
She swore, then jumped on top of me, shielding my body with hers, furthering my suspicion that she was insane.
I was badly injured but would survive; she wouldn’t. And there was nothing I could do to save her from her misplaced heroics.
If she died, it would be her own damned fault.
And I’d be forced to find a way to drag her soul back from Death’s domain to make her help me search for the portal stone. With the wards in place, I couldn’t simply use my own magic to transport out of here.
I would not be pleased with the delay.
Though I supposed if a spider ate her, I’d just have to hunt the swarm down and gut them all until I found the stone.
None of that would be necessary if she just listened and ran.
Ribbons of shadows shot out and wound around us, seeming oddly sentient. She held me tighter, and the press of her body against mine felt like fire as her curves branded my chest.
The ribbons bound her to me in a move that felt more possessive than protective.
My focus drifted across her face. Embers ignited in her eyes, tiny specks glowing like golden flames.
I struggled to recall details of the venom, wondering if vivid hallucinations were part of the symptoms or not.
It seemed highly likely they were.
One moment we were on the mountaintop, and the next it simply… fell away. Like it had folded in on itself and someone had turned the page of a pop-up book.
Darkness held us tightly in its fist as the ground gave way to nothingness. We floated in a void, weightless but tethered together until gravity came crashing back with a vengeance.
The shadows loosened their grip and faded away as quickly as they’d appeared. Hard earth slammed into us.
Fresh blood poured out from where I’d been impaled, the agony all-encompassing as I drew in a shallow breath and tried to orient myself.
A warm hand slapped my face.
“Wake up, Sociopath. You can’t die on me now.”
I blinked as our surroundings slowly came into view. We’d traveled to a new location. Soft, damp grass cushioned my head.
I rolled to the side, another explosion of pain stealing my breath.
My vision turned black at the edges, but I refused to submit to the darkness just yet. I forced my eyes to stay open, expecting to see the spiders preparing for the kill, or the mountaintop raining down lava.
All was quiet. No pack of Lycosidae, no other enemies closing in.
We were sprawled in a meadow of tall, sweet grass and wildflowers.
Alone.
About a hundred yards away a stone cabin sat near the edge of a dark wood. No smoke wafted out from the chimney, but that didn’t mean it was abandoned.
Cool drops fell across my face; I glanced up.
Rain. I couldn’t recall if I’d seen a storm rolling in on the mountain.
I didn’t think so.
Thunder sounded in the distance, the force of it shaking the ground.
My eyes fluttered shut.
The venom felt like fire in my veins as it traveled deeper into my system. I couldn’t fight it much longer. Or maybe I’d already succumbed to it and was lost in a delusion while it worked its way back out of my system.
That was the only logical explanation for how we ended up here.
Unless she’d somehow used the portal stone, and I hadn’t seen it.
“Someone, help!” the woman cried out, startling me.
No. Was what I would have said if words didn’t fail me. She had no way of knowing there was no help to be found in Somnia.
Not even I could be trusted.
This world was built on dreams, on fantasy. And the goddess who ruled it cleverly twisted them to her whims without anyone being the wiser.
My head rolled to the side, the sound of approaching footsteps barely rousing me.
“By the gods. Who are you? What happened to him?” a different feminine voice responded in the common tongue.
I tried to shove myself into a sitting position, but my limbs didn’t cooperate.
“Well, that’s kind of an interesting story…”
They exchanged more words, but I couldn’t hold on to the rapid conversation.
Despite my best efforts, I fell into a dreamless sleep and didn’t get up.
I woke with a start in an uncomfortable bed, the straw from the mattress jabbing into my wound.
The pain hadn’t roused me from sleep; some gnawing sense of unease had.
It felt like the room had drawn its breath, waiting to see what happened next.
I gingerly sat up and the thin sheet covering me fell away.
I glanced down at my bare chest, frowning.
Gauze was wrapped tightly around my torso, but that wasn’t what caught my attention. I tugged the bandage off and stared.
A large intricate design covered my entire chest and both arms, the careful lines dipping below my trousers. A tattoo.
Unlike the House Sloth tree of knowledge crest I had inked onto my back, I had no recollection of getting this one.
It was hard to tell from this direction, but it looked like each arm had a wing tattooed onto it and the bird’s body was inked onto my chest.
The lifelike gold feathers looked lit from within, the ink shimmering against my skin.
My brother Envy would appreciate the artistry of the image.
I only felt that sense of unease growing further. It was the same phoenix design that had been on the cover of the Liber Noctem.
The phantom burning slowly came back to me.
With everything that had happened, I’d almost forgotten about the odd sensation I’d felt back in the temple.
I wasn’t sure what the tattoo meant, but it couldn’t be anything good if the Book of Nightmares was involved. I focused on breathing steadily to keep my icy wall of calm in place. On not letting my annoyance give way to rage.
Something marked me. Without my knowledge or consent.
I hated the violation even if my curiosity about it was piqued.
“A phoenix is an interesting choice. Why’d you get it?”
My attention snapped up.
I hadn’t noticed the woman sitting in the small chair off to the side of the bed. With annoyance, I realized I couldn’t keep referring to her as the woman in my head.
“What’s your name?”
She gave me a bemused look.