Chapter 6
The first arrow hit the charging heliskrat and immediately disintegrated. Yet, she tried again and got the same result, only seeming to anger the roaring creature more.
“You’re right. Arrow shots aren’t going to do the job. What else we got?”
“There’s only one way to kill a heliskrat.” Rise handed her his bag. “We need to bury it in the sand.”
Liv didn’t like the idea of killing any living creature that didn’t deserve it. “Maybe we don’t kill it? I mean, it’s probably just defending its territory. Or maybe it has a young one nearby.”
“This is my territory! I made this dimension.”
“Say we didn’t have a conscience and we wreaked utter havoc wherever we went, do we even have the ability to kill it with what we currently have with us?”
“Seriously? Says the mercenary daughter of an evil tyrant. I have a conscience! I have a well-developed conscience, thank you very much. No, we don’t have what we would need to kill the creature.
The creature that’s trying to kill us, I might add, but there’s something else that will at least slow it down. ”
He felt the first rumblings on the ground and knew his plan would work. It had been a long shot to even think that Nick could find Coop, but he had sent the horse to look anyway.
“What now?”
As they crouched behind a boulder, he watched her swivel around to assess the situation behind them.
He knew what she saw even as he continued to watch the progress of the heliskrat instead.
Coop was huge. At least fifteen feet high and five feet across, he was literally a giant.
He didn’t have a drop of hair on top of his head and had a forehead that had folds of wrinkles that practically covered his small, dark eyes.
Coop’s nose was bulbous and crooked and beneath it, his mouth barely contained his large teeth.
He, also, swung a large tree back and forth, no doubt.
It was his usual choice of weapon. His body was muscular and wide, like a running brick wall.
He was an intimidating sight, which was exactly what they needed.
“Um. Rise, what do we do about that?”
Nick probably ran far behind him because Coop took incredibly long strides when he ran, so she had no idea that this was why Rise had sent Nick away—to find Coop. The fact that he had so quickly was a miracle.
“We say our thanks.”
“What do you--”
But she didn’t have a chance to finish her question as Coop took a giant leap over their heads and landed in front of the boulders behind which they had taken shelter.
He gave a mighty roar and swept the twenty-foot-long tree trunk at the heliskrat, sending it skidding and rolling over the rocky ground.
“Friend of yours?”
Rise watched the heliskrat regain its balance and lift to its four legs, shake its head, and charge back toward Coop.
Like the scariest of nightmares, Coop opened his mouth and gave an immeasurably loud yell that blasted the heliskrat with a mighty wind that went on for a full thirty seconds or more.
By the time he had finished his roar, the heliskrat was a skinny, cowering thing that looked like a four-legged piece of charred wood.
Coop raised his weapon to attack once more, but he never had to.
The heliskrat yelped loudly and turned to run away.
Beneath the black of its skin, a slight orange glow seemed to shift and roll but didn’t ignite as the creature retreated just as quickly as it had given chase.
Rise stood up and Liv did the same. He called out to Coop, “I think we’re finally even, my friend.”
The giant warrior turned, his breathing heavy and strained. He searched and found the people behind him. His beady eyes honed in on Rise.
He gave a toothy smile and said, “Riiiseerion! You alive!”
“Yes, thanks to you. You made it just in time.”
“Coop came to help!”
“You didn’t just help, Coop. You fucking saved us.”
“Yeah! You too puny to scare a heliskrat. Only Coop save you.”
“Yeah, yeah! You’re as strong as ten of me together. But don’t forget who gave you permission to stay here. You’ve made this dimension your home, and I’m just glad I had the sense to let you.”
“Nick found me. Knew Riserion needed Coop.”
“Again, thanks, friend. You really saved my ass.”
Liv slipped up beside Rise, and he felt his muscles tighten just having her nearby.
Coop whistled loudly. “Who pretty woman? Riserion’s girlfriend?”
A heated glance was exchanged between Rise and Liv before he cleared his throat and explained, “She’s not my girlfriend. She’s…she’s…”
“I’m his prisoner.”
“What you do to Riserion?”
Another exchanged look passed between them. “As far as I can tell, I was given an evil father who has no regard for life.”
White-hot anger filled his gut. As much as she wanted to blame her father for his horrible deeds, she didn’t mind using a slave to do her bidding. “Don’t act like you are completely innocent, princess.”
“I’m not sure what a six-year-old me did to deserve your wrath, but I can genuinely say that using me to get to my father won’t make it better.”
Again, she was trying to make him feel guilty for using her to get his vengeance.
She had had no qualms when it came to using him.
It bothered him slightly that she didn’t even remember him.
After the day in the acid rain, she had almost always asked for him when she needed something.
He was only a few years older than she was.
At least, he thought so. He’d never actually been told how old he was.
Most slaves were born into slavery and sold far away from their mothers.
Rise and his mother had been free for about the first three years of his life.
They were captured together and separated almost immediately.
He still remembered her eyes, though. In his mind, he saw her beautiful, crystalline-blue eyes looking down on him, glowing as she smiled.
It was his only memory of her. He wished he had more, but Grawl had bought him and taken him to his castle where he spent his childhood.
“Doesn’t matter what you did or didn’t do. You’re my way inside, and that’s all you need to know.”
Rise ignored the look of confusion on her face.
Her eyes had dipped together, and her mouth was slightly open, but he was done explaining himself.
He was never going to get all the answers about his past. The only result from remembering all the misery was a stoking of his hatred for all things Strongwill, and it was time to move toward exacting his revenge.
He didn’t wait for her to follow as he walked up to Coop. He stared upward and patted the giant’s leg. “Thanks, Coop! I appreciate your help, buddy. You were there for me when I needed you, and I don’t mind you living here for as long as you need.”
Coop’s face widened even more as he gave Rise a big smile. “Riserion is Coop’s friend.”
“You better believe it. Friends for life.”
He gave Coop one more pat before turning to whistle for Nick. The horse high-stepped his way to Rise. With a wide arc, he placed his bag on the back of Nick and mounted quickly. He directed the horse toward Liv and reached a hand down to her.
She stood still a few heartbeats before taking his arm and letting him help her up to settle in front of him on the horse.
“Are you going to tie me up.”
Damn! The words generated images in his mind he’d rather not picture, but he pushed them out as quickly as they arrived. “Don’t give me a reason to.”
With that, he gave Nick a slight nudge with his heels and called back over his shoulder, “Thanks, again, Coop.”
Then, she surprised him as she turned, leaned around him, and waved at Coop. “Thanks, big guy!”
Rise tensed. Coop didn’t like any reference to his size. It was one reason he hid in the pocket dimension. Yet, the explosion of anger didn’t come.
Rise didn’t want to let the grin slip onto his face, but when he felt Coop’s dreamy breath pass over them, he couldn’t help himself.
The involuntary show of happiness surprised him, not because she’d unexpectedly showed some humanity, but because the air that had bathed them had been Coop’s heavy sigh.
She’d charmed a giant with a smile and one simple phrase.
And the gesture had made a spark of true mirth come to life in Rise’s chest despite the fact he knew she probably manipulated people like most others took breaths. Still, the moment was unexpected.
She was unexpected. And her plan to make him feel guilty might just be working.