Chapter 11
Vera
I was exhausted from that frantic escape from Zathar’s village.
I was pretty sure it was starting to near dawn because pink was coloring the sky faintly back in the direction we’d come from.
Which meant we’d gone the entire night without rest. My arms were sore from how hard I’d worked at chipping at that back wall, cutting branch after branch without breaking through entirely.
Reid had done most of the work but he and I had alternated whenever he needed a break, and I was definitely not used to that kind of workout.
My legs were tired too from walking, which felt stupid because Cosima and I hadn’t walked nearly as far as the guys.
Zathar had carried both of us while injured for miles on end and at breakneck speeds, I was pretty sure he was some kind of superhero at this point.
But he wasn’t invincible, and the blood that painted Cosima’s shirt red was evidence of that, even if Corin had used his device to heal him.
I recognized the mountain with the giant, carved gate into the rocky face.
We were nearly back to the place where Zathar and Corin had been living when they found us.
I wasn’t sure if this was going to be a safe place though because they knew we’d stayed here before.
What if they just came back and captured us again?
The thought had only just crossed my mind when Zathar froze in place and started cursing. It took me only a second to figure out why. The silhouettes of several Naga were emerging from the trees up ahead. They had intercepted our path and were lying in wait.
“Corin, take the humans. I will keep them busy and then follow you. We’ll meet up at the other side, yeah?
” Zathar said grimly. His fingers started to release from around mine, and I knew he was about to push me away while he was going to do something heroic.
He dropped his huge backpack at his side, his eyes fixated on the Naga female in the lead.
“Reid, Cosima, go with Corin,” I said, “He’ll take you to safety.
” Cosima quickly squeezed my shoulder and then darted away but Reid paused at my side while watching the Naga with me.
There were six of them, far too many for Zathar to fight on his own.
Although I was unsure if the female in the lead was actually going to get involved in the scuffle or just watch it.
“You are staying? Careful Vera, they look like they mean business. Good luck.” He risked a glare from Zathar to draw me into a quick hug and then he jogged after the already disappearing Corin and Cosima, the pilot draped over the pale blue Naga’s shoulder.
I swallowed away my nerves as the Naga approached us and like a pack of bullies started to spread out to circle around.
I dipped down, grabbing rocks from the ground as an improvised weapon.
Then I stayed crouched low, near the end of Zathar’s tail, and carefully pressed my fingers to his scales so I could understand the hissing and growling words they were exchanging.
“You should give up, Zathar,” the female said.
“You can’t possibly fight all of us.” She was a Naga with long black hair and the darkest blue scales I’d seen so far.
They sharply contrasted with the nearly white spots that covered her, patterned much like a python.
She was beautiful, with her sharp face and her slanted eyes, her body slender and athletic in a way I could never be.
The scars that crossed her arms, chest, and bared belly told me that she loved to fight.
I might have even seen her in action back in the village during one of my spying forays.
Zathar’s posture seemed to indicate he was relaxed but I could see him gently work his previously injured shoulder. “Oh yeah? Shall we find out?” Zathar taunted, “Because unless you suddenly discover some compassion and let us go, that’s the only way this is going to end.”
My eyebrows shot up. Woah, he really didn’t think highly of that lady, did he?
If the situation weren’t so dire I might feel relieved that she was no competition.
Her next words made my heart drop into my shoes, shock, and worry filling me all over again.
“You are to be my mate, Zathar. I’m not letting you get away!
” the female Naga hissed. With a gesture of her hand, the five males with her started approaching us again.
Zathar just laughed, and then he was moving, his body coiling forward fast as a whip. I lost contact with his tail, but it seemed like nobody was paying any attention to me and they weren’t talking now. I backed away, my rocks cradled against my chest as I watched for an opening.
They weren’t fighting with weapons, at least not with blades or spears.
The claws that tipped their fingers were razor sharp and they were definitely slashing with those.
In seconds, the scent of blood filled the air and I saw more than a few drops spray the dirt beneath their rapidly coiling bodies.
They were swapping in and out, trying to wear Zathar down turn after turn.
So I raised my arm with the biggest rock I had and aimed for the back of the head of one of them.
I’d always had good aim, and though this was a rather unwieldy projectile, it wasn’t far.
With a thump it hit the big male on the crown of his shiny blue hair, his head whipping to the side from the blow.
I cheered, but when he spun around to glare at me my smile dropped. Oh no, now what?
The male was quick on that long tail, gliding through along the forest floor unhindered while I stumbled over a tree root and then managed to get smacked in the face by a branch. But hey, with him chasing me, I was evening out the odds for Zathar.
With more luck than skill, I managed to swerve around a thick tree I could barely see in the dark.
He was closing in on me and turned rapidly, his shoulder slamming into a low branch which broke with a snap causing him to loudly curse.
Spinning on my feet, I raised another of my rocks, my chest rising and falling rapidly from running.
I steadied myself when he started approaching again, a triumphant look on his smug face.
Releasing the rock with a shout, this time I hit him square in the center of his face.
He jerked backward with the blow, his body coiling in reflex, and somehow he hit that branch again, and down he went, his body a liquid puddle as he lost consciousness.
He wasn’t moving, his body just one giant snake coil, long blue hair fanned out over one of them where his head was.
Had I really just defeated a Naga? With a freaking rock?
I stood there staring longer than I should have, so surprised by this stroke of luck.
It was the sounds of the ongoing fight behind me that brought me back to the situation at hand.
Making sure I had enough rocks, I ran back through the woods.
Bracing myself against a tree on the edge of the clearing where they were fighting; I appraised the situation.
Zathar was wrestling with two males, a third was sitting on the sidelines cradling a broken arm and pressing a wad of fabric to a belly wound.
The last male was sprawled on the ground, his long snake-like body stretched out like a sinuous line, definitely unconscious.
The Naga female was hovering behind them, shouting and hissing instructions but when she saw me, she screamed.
She was lightning fast as she came around Zathar’s tangle of fighting bodies.
I lifted my arm, threw my first rock, and scored a glancing blow along her shoulder.
The many gold chains dangling around her throat clattered together with a jangling noise.
She screamed again, possibly words I couldn’t understand, but the message was clear; it infuriated her to be fighting me, to be pelted with rocks.
So I did it again, winding up for a good throw, my small projectile scoring her in the belly this time.
My nerves were getting to me. I had to step up my game, if she reached me, it was all over for me.
She’d crush me with those muscular coils, or shred me to ribbons with her claws.
With only a couple of feet separating us, my last stone flew from my hand, my fingers clammy from nerves.
The female howled, curling sideways to avoid the rock and then her claws were reaching for me.
I threw myself out of the way but her claws stopped inches from my chest, her arms outstretched, her expression furious.
She was straining forward but not moving, something held her trapped.
Leaping to my feet I backed away. Beyond her stretched-out body, I caught sight of Zathar holding the female’s tail in both hands, pulling to keep her from me.
The two males he was still fighting were holding him in turn, landing blows with their fists on his back.
He’d exposed himself to harm to rescue me, and his sigils were glowing like when he touched me.
Lighting up the dirt around him with their bioluminescence.
He would hold her as long as he could to give me a head start but I knew I couldn’t outrun a Naga in the dark.
I doubted I could repeat that last stroke of luck a second time, and the female was far more motivated.
Scanning the ground for more rocks, I spotted the thick branch near my feet.
On impulse, I picked it up and holding it like a bat, I whacked the female in the head with a scream.
She was out like a light in an instant and empowered, I yelled again and ran for Zathar’s opponents.
“Leave him alone! Don’t you hurt him!” The nearest one reared back, letting go of Zathar to stare at me with an expression that was more shocked consternation than fear.
Words rasping from his throat that I couldn’t follow.