Chapter 27 My Brother
TWENTY-SEVEN
MY brOTHER
Julia
Trees and brush whip past as the Boa speeds through the forest at great pace. Slamming my fists against his back ends up doing nothing except exhaust me so I focus on hanging onto him instead. That, and breathing. If I get too light-headed I’ll pass out again.
He doesn’t stop, pushing us as fast as he can through the trees.
Minutes turn into hours until I lose track of time.
At some point I disgustingly lose the contents of my stomach, spitting berry juice onto his back.
I wonder how far he can manage to go—and how long I can endure this position without losing consciousness.
My back and neck muscles strain as I try to hold my head up.
By the time the Boa sets me down with an angry hiss, I have no idea where we are or what direction the river would be. While his thick yellow tail coils around me possessively, I wheeze out several hard breaths. At the same time, he turns around to face whatever it is he thinks is chasing us.
Raising my head and scanning the thick brush, I pray it’s Krellix.
I immediately look for a means to escape but, as if sensing my intentions, the Boa hauls me up against his side.
Almost tripping to get my feet under me, I have to use his body as leverage to stand upright. I wish he would stop manhandling me.
All of a sudden, as my blood flows out of my head, I can hear what he hears: the crack of branches, and the harsh rustle of leaves. My heart thrums wildly as I go from pushing away from the Boa to searching the forest.
Krellix bursts through the trees and my ragged breath rushes out of me.
With only several trees and bushes between us, our eyes lock.
“Krellix,” I gasp.
He’s here. He found me…
His fierce gaze shifts to the Boa. “Sada!” he shouts. “Release her.”
Sada? They know each other? Sada’s arm comes around me, grabbing me tighter to his side. I struggle against him and kick at his tail but neither action has any effect.
“Not before I know what happened to my brother!” Sada yells back, his voice filled with anger and resentment.
His brother. I’d forgotten about his brother.
Krellix shifts closer, and though I can’t see his tail through the brush, I know he’ll be finding a way to get to me. “Your brother?” he asks.
“He is gone and I know the King Cobra knows where he is! I will have my answers one way or another. Even if I have to use the female to get them.”
“Let her go and I will tell you what happened to him. If that is all you want, we can both leave here alive. But first, release Julia.”
Sada hisses, lunging his upper body and head forward, baring his fangs at Krellix. “And I should trust you? You might be friendly with the Cobra but you are not him. It was him who made a deal with the humans, it was him who planned the hunt. Where is my brother!?”
“Why have you not asked Zaku himself?” Krellix’s eyes meet mine but only briefly. “Why are you here, following ussss?”
I fight harder, scratching, driving my elbow into the Boa—Sada’s—hip, still to no avail.
Sada merely jerks me against him and I fall into his side.
Krellix hisses in response. “He will not talk to me. He will see me dead and no other way. For what reason, I do not know. Because I have tried! Coming after you was the only option I had.”
He doesn’t know… Sada jostles me, his hold strong enough to bruise, and I wince inwardly. He doesn’t know that his brother is dead and that Zaku killed him because he assaulted Daisy.
I look at Krellix and can see the realization come to him as well. Something else flashes over his expression… A deep tiredness that wasn’t there before, along with a savageness that curls my toes.
“Where is my brother!” Sada roars. “Tell me or I will hurt her.” He wraps his hand around my throat and presses his claws into my skin. Between the raw ache of my lungs and their sharp tips, I start coughing painfully, unable to help it.
Krellix lurches forward. “Release her! Or you will learn nothing from me.”
Sada hauls me forward against his chest to use me as a shield. “Tell me where my brother issss!” His tail pounds the ground, pummeling a large bush and snapping its many branches.
Coughing, eyes watering, I reach up and grab at Sada’s arm, trying to pull it off me. If I can just get away…
In the periphery of my vision, Krellix’s face contorts with anger. He hovers, swaying, clearly wanting to shoot forward but wary of the danger I’m in.
Sada’s grip on me tightens.
“Stop! This doesn’t have to end in a fight!” I shout through the burning in my throat, falling into a fit of coughing immediately afterwards. Sada’s claws scrape my skin and I feel my blood well and drip. My skin stings, making me tense all over in an effort to block out the pain.
But it’s too late. Krellix barrels into Sada’s side. The sheer power of the impact forces Sada to release me and I go flying into a tree, hitting my head on the unforgiving trunk. I tumble to the ground seeing spots swim across my eyes.
A flurry of noise fills my ears and something whips past my face. Jerking, and drawing in as small as I can, I press up against the bark at my back. I stop coughing and look up long enough to see Sada wrestle Krellix underneath him, his thicker tail pinning the Copperhead’s completely.
I stagger to my feet and, pushing through the dizziness and pain, jolt forward and leap on Sada’s back, grabbing at his face and digging my fingers into his eyes.
With a growl, he reaches back and grabs ahold of my jacket.
Tearing me off him, he throws me to the side, and I roll into a large patch of wildflowers.
Thankfully it gives Krellix enough time to draw out from underneath him and rise up for an advantage.
I lift my head in time to see him pouncing on Sada.
Pressing my palms into the ground, I shove back up to my feet.
“Your brother is dead!” Krellix grabs hold of Sada’s head and yells into his face.
The Boa rips his claws down Krellix’s sides, drawing blood.
Krellix rears back with a grunt and pushes his tail hard into Sada’s chest, forcing him away.
Their tails tangle up with each others’ as they twist and writhe, fighting to be on top.
“Stop!” I shout.
Despite Krellix being smaller, Sada’s movements are slower and more bullish.
He is unable to react fast enough to Krellix’s attacks.
Krellix, quickly regaining the advantage, punches the Boa in the face, bloodying his nose.
Snaking atop of the bigger naga, Krellix scrapes his claws—the ones he has left—down Sada’s face.
The Boa roars but the sound is cut off by Krellix’s fist.
“Stop!” I manage to cry again. Dodging their wrestling, I stumble to their side and tug at Krellix's arm.
“Your brother hurt and tried to rape Zaku’s female!” I yell out when that doesn’t stop Sada from his thrashing. “That is why your brother has gone missing! He’s now just another pile of bones in Zaku’s yard!”
Krellix, hissing loudly, shakes me off and slams his knuckles repeatedly into the Boa’s face, over and over until the yellow naga goes limp.
This time when I pull his arm away, he lets me.
Afterwards, he slowly rises up, blood splattered across his face and chest, and turns to me. I straighten up to meet him. The warmth that’s usually in his eyes is completely gone, replaced by a feverish weariness I’ve never seen before. The fierceness from before is fading away.
“Come, Julia,” Krellix says, reaching for me. His tail slides out from around the Boa’s and he raises his tailtip to my face, pushing my hair back over my shoulder. He dislodges himself entirely from Sada and takes my hand. Helping me through the trampled plants, he leads me back the way he came.
“Wait,” I croak, stopping. “Aren’t you going to kill him?” I indicate Sada. I’m not exactly for killing him, I’m just surprised. “Isn’t that… what you guys do?”
Krellix looks down at the unconscious naga. “Some of us but not me. No. I won’t kill him. I might have… once.”
I tilt my head, ignoring the swimming pain in it. “Why? He might come after us.”
“Because I know what it’s like searching for family, and searching for my own brothers… He knows what happened to his now and no longer has any need for us. You told him the truth. Come, let us go before I change my mind.”
“I didn’t know you’d been searching for your family.” I squeeze his hand, finally allowing myself to feel how happy and relieved I am to see him.
“It was a while ago. I have stopped since then.”
Not sure broaching the subject right now is smart because of what I’ve been told by Daisy, I let it drop.
We stop in the bushes nearby where he picks up my rifle and my pack from the ground. I grab my gun from him and shoulder it on, beyond grateful. “Thank… you.” I wince.
Krellix frowns down at me as his tail coils around my feet. “You are hurt.”
“I might have—” I cough “—sucked in some smoke and some chemicals… and maybe hit my head on the tree. I’m fine otherwise. It’s nothing I won’t get over in due time.”
He growls and, grabbing my arm with his hand, tugs me to him to take a closer look.
“Trust me, I’ve been through worse in training.”
I don’t stop moving towards him, pressing into his chest and circling my arms around his middle.
I bury my face against him, breathing him in, uncaring if it’s his pheromones.
His arms slowly come up to wrap around me, tightening like bands.
I sink into his embrace, unable to stop the shudders that want to wrack my body.
“You are okay now,” he says, his voice soft, his hand sliding over my hair.
“I know. You’re here. You always make things okay.”
And I mean it. I know if I’m safe with anyone out here, it’s with him. If anyone’s got my back outside the other human women, it’s him.
I pull away first to peer up at him. He looks more disheveled and dirty than I’ve ever seen him; the golden god is now also a bloody warrior.
“Thank you,” I say again, whispering it this time so as not to ruin it with a cough.
He cups my cheek, his eyes finally warming. “Julia, we should go.”
I nod, lean into his hand, and then ease back. “Then let’s go.”