Captive Moon (37 page)

“Will survive if we kill Sargon. But if we choose to save Tahira, he’ll get away, and then he’ll simply hunt her until he captures her again. No, this must end now.”

He glanced at the doorway with rising panic. The vision had deserted him, perhaps because he was now living it. Since he hadn’t seen Nasil attack the spider, maybe the future was wavering, waiting for his next act. He nodded at Ahmad. “Very well. We find Sargon and kill him.”

Ahmad actually smiled. “You make it sound so simple. I hope your confidence and enthusiasm hold when he ambushes us. That’s his preferred method of attack. Remember, as we discussed, our goal is to keep stabbing and cutting at him to wear him down and force him to use some of his power to heal. Concentrate on using your power only to divert his strikes. Don’t wear yourself down trying to hold him or attack with magic. He will attack us with magic, and you’ll need to use your power as a shield.” He turned to walk into the darkness but then snapped his fingers and said over his shoulder, “Oh, and he’s very accurate with his venom spits, so keep moving, even if it means you miss a cut, but then quickly slash before he can spit a second time.”

It had been a long time since he’d battled anyone with swords. He was adequate with a blade, but certainly not at Ahmad’s level. “Is there a chance that we can defeat him using that method?”

The cobra’s face was amused. “Hardly. No, our goal is to hopefully wear him down until Nasil can release the others. If we can use some of our power to change Tahira and her brother, then we might stand a chance with a multiposition attack.”

A rolling, malevolent bass from the darkness made both of them turn with swords extended. “Thank you for explaining your plan, my son. I see that my disappointment in you wasn’t misplaced.”

A rasping sound of something hard slithering over the stone came closer and closer. Antoine could smell him now, and the bitter odor was so strong that it nearly made him choke. Glowing red eyes blinked in the darkness and remained still for a long moment. He flexed his fingers on the wet leather grip and added his other hand, steadying his stance for either a thrust or a cut.

He felt power press on him that was stronger than he’d ever experienced. It seared his skin and burned through his chest. And Sargon wasn’t even attacking yet. The torch caught the bright yellow of Sargon’s belly as he rose up and up until his head was far overhead, against the ceiling. His tail disappeared into the darkness, leaving no clue as to his true size.

Although Antoine was concentrating on Sargon’s movements, he heard a small clatter of rocks behind and then the pad of soft paws.

They intend to trap us between attacks.

“Ahmad! Change of plans!” Antoine dropped the sword and leapt into the air, not waiting to see what Ahmad would do in response. When he landed, he had changed to cat form and he shook the tattered remains of his clothing from his fur. With a second leap before his heart could beat again, he found the location of the lion by scent, and slammed into the cat with teeth and claws bared.

They tumbled from the ledge where the lion had lain in wait, and hit the cave floor with a bone-jarring crash. He heard vicious hisses in the distance and knew that Ahmad had also decided in favor of animal form for their battle.

Antoine raked his claws down the lion’s side and as it turned away, he closed his jaws around the neck. He squeezed down, feeling his teeth sink through fur and flesh. The scent of fresh blood filled his nose and spurred him on. The lion was thrashing in pain, trying to get purchase on the rocks to break free.

He heard the noise just before a second lion struck him in the side. He lost his grip for a moment, but then once again closed his jaws around the first lion. He ignored the pain as fangs sank in his back; the Rabbet was making his system work so fast that he healed as quickly as he was wounded. It wasn’t worth wasting his power to stop the second lion.

Instead, he clamped down harder on his opponent’s neck and then twisted and pulled sharply. He heard a crack and then the full, limp weight of the lion pulled his head to the floor. He turned in midair and leapt on the second lion. It tried to break free and escape, but Antoine was faster. He grabbed it around the sides and dug his claws in the soft belly while his jaws once again claimed the neck, this time from the top. It was over in moments and two bodies were lying at his feet.

Tahira lifted her head as the triumphant roar of a familiar cat washed over the sound of Larry and Rachel’s battle. Elation filled her, despite the circumstances. He was alive!

But there was still the man Rachel had called Sargon to deal with. She had to get out of here to help Antoine. But she couldn’t figure out any way to get out of the chains, unless Larry managed to win. But they seemed equally matched, and neither was wearing down. They were both carefully avoiding the rock where Tahira was chained. At one point, Rachel had stepped within the circle of light, and Tahira felt a stinging flow of power that felt even more toxic than Ahmad’s.

Maybe that’s the key!

As soon as Rachel had pressed another attack and her back was turned, Tahira raised and turned her head to look at her brother. “Rabi! Isim!” She whispered the words very carefully, hoping he would hear. His ears were at least equal to hers. She concentrated, closed her eyes and willed the edges of light and motion to blur until she disappeared from sight. When she looked down, only the manacles remained visible. But the angles were wrong. They would reveal that she was still there, so she moved her body, stretching and straining her muscles to bend until the silver chains appeared to be empty and loose. She might be able to hold the isim, but she didn’t know if she could keep her muscles from twitching the tight bindings for very long. Rachel had to notice soon.

She looked over into the cage and saw Rabi smile. He’d figured out her plan and she saw him fade into nothingness. It would take her eyes a moment to find him while he was ghosting. But then the strangest thing happened. The manacles dropped to the floor of the cage with a sharp clang that caught the attention of both Rachel and Larry. She wasn’t sure how Rabi had managed to make the chains appear so loose, and she couldn’t see him yet.

“No!” Rachel screamed the word and frantically turned her body in circles, desperately looking for her prisoners. She leapt onto the wall to avoid Larry’s strike and skittered onto the ceiling as she took in the empty manacles. She raced forward and back onto the floor, keeping the orange circle between her and the giant snake. Unblinking, multifaceted eyes stared at her without notice, and the spider moved her body left and right, close enough that Tahira could smell that she was increasingly desperate and panicstricken.

Two things happened at once, and Tahira couldn’t move out of the way. Larry had decided to brave the circle of power. He threw himself into the orange light in a head-on attack on Rachel. But instead of backing up, Rachel fell forward into the light as though shoved.

Unimaginable power poured into Tahira like boiling oil. It coated her, filled her until she felt made of light. Even invisible, her body began to glow with the light of a thousand candles. Tahira screamed over and over, as fast as she could draw breath. Larry took no notice of her screams. He opened his mouth wide, revealing a startlingly pink maw. Tahira could only watch, helpless and in agony as Larry closed his mouth over Rachel’s body, driving twin fangs deep into her back. Rachel struggled and pulled to free herself, but Larry held on tight, and she was hampered by the fact that two of her legs seemed to be frozen in place. As hard as she tried to move, the legs remained in the circle, even after Larry’s strike pulled them through the circle and beyond.

Again and again, Larry’s jaws moved as he pulled her deeper inside his mouth, forcing more venom into the spider with each bite. It wasn’t until she was completely limp and her narrow black legs had started to curl under that he released her.

Tahira couldn’t move from the fury of power that soared around her, but some part of her brain that wasn’t on fire recognized a voice next to her ear. “Hang on, sis. I’ll get you out of this.” She shrieked as hands touched her, adding to the agony.

She heard a commanding baritone that had hints of Larry’s soft tenor. “Rghnl olpnst nbwiq! Hoplez requay!”

The circle of power dissolved as though it had never been, and she released her isim when she saw Larry approaching with a ring of keys. Her heart was still vibrating painfully with unspent energy, and the surface of her skin was red and raw. But the flow into her had stopped, which provided a little relief.

Rabi was standing next to her, looking worried. He smelled equally of love and concern, but there was more than a little embarrassment there, too. He winced at the crackling sound as he carefully peeled the manacles away from the charred skin on her wrists, while Larry attended to her legs. Their own fingers were smoking by the time the silver had dropped against the rock.

Her voice sounded breathy and hoarse from screaming, but she had to know. “Who released you, Rabi?

How did you get out?”

“You’re not going to believe this, Tahira. I can truly ghost, like the legendary Khalid! Like from the old fables!” He smiled ruefully. “I told you that you were the smart one in the family. If it had occurred to me to isim, I could have walked out of here a month ago!”

She smiled at him and squeezed his hand proudly. “You’re going to be a wonderful sahip for our people, Rabi. I always knew you were special!”

Larry cleared his throat and they both turned to him. “As touching as this family reunion is, Ahmad and Antoine aren’t faring too well in the next room. Go! I’ll free Giselle.”

As though on command, a cat’s scream of pain filled the room.

She called out and was halfway to the doorway before she even registered the movement. “Antoine!”

CHAPTER Nineteen

Antoine was forced to change back to human form as the venom from Sargon’s bite flooded his body. Fortunately, the Rabbet was still working to heal him, but he wouldn’t be able to run on all fours until the poison was overcome and pushed out of his system.

Ahmad was still twined around the larger cobra, desperately trying to keep him still so Antoine could attack. They hissed and struck at each other, avoiding each other’s fangs with movements so quick that Antoine could barely follow the fight.

He sprinted over to where the swords still lay, holding his injured arm against his body. The pain was terrible and his entire body trembled as the venom destroyed nerve endings. But he couldn’t stop now. They had to finish this or die trying. He prayed that Tahira was alive. Her scream had torn at his heart and made him panic. The distraction had nearly cost him his life when Sargon struck.

He grabbed both blades and dropped one at the edge of the battle in case he lost the first. He raced forward, sword low with the blade edge up. He needed to thrust hard and then slice either up or down to wound Sargon the most. At least it would be easy to know which snake to cut. Antoine had always assumed that Ahmad was a full-blooded king cobra due to his markings, but now he realized, when the two snakes were together, that Ahmad must have some other breed mixed in. His back was paler than the inky blackness of his father.

Antoine leapt high into the air as the great king’s tail lashed out. With a powerful thrust he sank the sword into Sargon’s bright yellow chest and used his momentum and gravity to drag the blade down through his rib bones as he fell.

Sargon reared his head back in agony and Ahmad struck, driving his fangs into his father’s throat. Using his hood like a weapon, Sargon slammed Ahmad’s mouth away, and his tail grabbed Antoine around the chest before he could regain his footing in the tangle of scaly coils. Sargon’s eyes bled red until they glowed and Ahmad was suddenly sailing through the air, pushed away by a wave of magic so great that it superheated the air and singed Antoine’s hair, making it frizzy and foul smelling.

As the coils constricted with each breath, Antoine realized that Sargon’s goal was to crush and then eat him. But he was no mouse, no rabbit to swallow whole. He called up power inside him and expanded it in an outward wave that forced the coil open. He slipped to the floor and backed up. But he was nearly spent, and Ahmad had turned back to human from slamming against the cave wall. He was lying still and Antoine couldn’t tell if he was breathing.

He was worried that he was weakening so quickly because it didn’t appear that Sargon was in the least. He picked up the second sword. This would be his final stand.

Sargon’s tongue flicked out, and his whole upper body waved back and forth as the massive hood extended with a snap. “You’re frightened, as you should be, Councilman Monier.” His mouth opened just a bit in what might have been a smile at Antoine’s brief moment of surprise. “Oh, yes. I’m well aware who you are, since Nasil has been in your employ for nearly a dozen years. It’s interesting that you’ve taken on so many abilities of both your mother and sister. Perhaps I was wrong to try to claim the girl instead of you. But that doesn’t matter now, since I have the power well. You and my … child will die here and then I will—”

“Rule the world?” Antoine asked snidely. “I don’t think so. There are still the other council members to face, along with Wolven agents who are every bit your equal.”

“Oh, I will rule the world, young cat, but not in the way you’re thinking. My plan is even greater than you can imagine. I will free the snakes of the world, once again create a true civilization—one that hasn’t existed since the kingdom I was forced to dissolve. The precious council decided that no shifter should rule over humans. We should hide in the shadows, let the lesser race populate and thrive. But no more. Once she awakens, we will lead the earth into the glory of a new age. And there is nothing you or my feckless son can do to prevent it.”

She? What could he be referring to? But there was no time to consider it, because Antoine suddenly felt a powerful running shake the ground under him, and then a pair of orange and black forms sailed over his head with twin roars that were both vicious and heartening. Sandalwood and cherries filled the air, covering the bitter scent of venom for a brief moment.