The Devil's Concubine (The Devil of Ponong series #1) (25 page)

The villagers threw
themselves into rowing with coordinated speed as the fishermen called out a
steady beat. As if they were riding to war with a neighboring cay, they put all
their strength into flying across the water.

Another sea dragon’s
gleaming coils broke the surface. The fishermen sped up their tempo.

In the slow setting
of the sun, the outriggers closed the distance between Cay Rhi and the island
of Ponong, the sea dragons gaining. Sea water stung the palms of QuiTai’s raw
hands but she kept rowing. She couldn’t bear to look at the land. She fixed her
gaze on the steady movement of sea dragons, now seven of them, drawing ever
closer.

The boat jolted.
QuiTai wondered if a sea dragon had come underneath to tip them over, but when
villagers began to clamber over the side of the boat and run through the
shallow water, she realized they had made landfall. She pulled the boy once
more onto her back and waded through the waves. The verdant mountains of Ponong
rose before her. The sand ebbed under QuiTai’s feet as waves broke around her
ankles. Then the sand was hard and she knew they’d made it to shore.

“Into the jungle!
Quick!” She didn’t need to urge them; they were already running up the sand
dunes for the cover of the jungle. As she followed, she heard the sea dragons
beach themselves and begin to shift back into their human forms.

If they could evade
the Thampurian soldiers until the sun set, they would be okay. Ponongese eyes
saw much better in the dark. If all else failed, they had their fangs. The
Thampurian soldiers had to know their silly laws wouldn’t protect them now.

QuiTai hacked a path
with her machete until her lungs felt as if they would burst. She wasn’t used
to running with weight on her back. Her knees burned. She wasn’t sure if the
person crashing through the jungle behind her was Ponongese or Thampurian, so
she ran as if the devil himself were on her heels.

The land sloped
steeply upward. She pushed blindly through the plants. Then a hand grabbed her
and yanked her back. Fangs drawn, she turned.

RhiHanya put her
finger to her lips and pointed down. QuiTai’s next step would have sent her
tumbling into a small ravine. RhiHanya pointed inland. “You keep going. I’ll
grab any stragglers. You have to lead, grandmother.”

Too exhausted to
argue, QuiTai nodded and began to find her way along the rim of the ravine.

By
nightfall,
QuiTai’s side ached. Her arms were numb from using the machete, her
hands sore and blistered. The scab over the wolf bite on her ankle seeped pus onto
the wet bandage around it.

She had to put the
boy down. He didn’t complain. No one did. They simply pushed forward. Their
little group drew closer together, but it was too dark to tell if everyone was
with them. She had no idea if anyone had been captured. To her relief, RhiHanya
appeared, straggling behind the group. They exchanged weary, grim smiles.

The sounds of the pursuing
soldiers grew fainter. She hoped they were good and lost in the jungle.

The sound of rushing
water grew stronger as the Ponongese moved downslope. Even in the dark, QuiTai
began to recognize their surroundings. She cursed herself: In her mental
stupor, she’d led them straight to the Jupoli Gorge. The Devil’s den.

She was tempted to redirect
them upslope, back into the jungle, but they might cross paths with the
Thampurian soldiers. And she couldn’t ask them to keep marching without food or
water.

She swore she felt a
low growl down her spine. She stopped and listened with all her body. Then she squatted
with her back to a tree trunk and motioned for the others to make a ring around
her. She swallowed hard as the growl’s vibrations grew stronger. The villagers
glanced around as if they felt it too.

Petrof had found
her.

QuiTai milked her
fangs and spread her venom liberally over her wrists and throat. Several of the
villagers noticed and did the same.

She spoke quickly:
He could attack at any moment, and she had to make sure her people got all the
information.

“I know you are
tired, my aunties and uncles. You have been brave, and it’s been an honor to be
your guide. We have escaped much danger, but more lies ahead. Some is evil that
I have brought on myself, and I must face it alone.” She nodded at RhiHanya,
silently appointing her as the leader. “If you follow this trail along the rim
of the gorge, you will eventually hear an engine to your right. To your left,
there will be a stone bridge over the gorge. Cross the bridge. On the other
side, soon, you will see a big house. Cat people from the Lisudtan Islands live
there. One is named LiHoun. Tell them I have sent you, and they will see that
you have a place to sleep and food to eat. Talk to no one else; be seen by no
others. Trust no Thampurian except the one called Kyam Zul. He distracted the
Thampurian soldiers tonight so that I could help you to escape, and he will pay
dearly for that from his own kind. Always remember and honor his sacrifice.”

Slow clapping filled
the air.

“Such a valiant
speech, QuiTai,” Petrof said as he stepped from behind a flowering tree. “Is it
from one of your plays?”

He pushed the
plunger on an instant jellylantern and shook it. “Ah, a little light thrown on
the subject.” Like the Thampurians, he couldn’t see as well in the dark as she
could. The jellylantern actually made it harder for her to see, something he
probably knew.

QuiTai motioned the Ponongese to rise with
her.

“Did you think I wouldn’t smell you?” He
lifted his nose to the air. “Especially when you’re so fragrant with fear.”
Then he turned to the Ponongese. “Run away.” He bared his teeth and snapped at
them.

“Should we go?” RhiHanya asked QuiTai.

“Yes. Go to LiHoun. But tell him that I will
need him.”

“Tell LiHoun that she is already dead,”
Petrof said.

“What about him?” RhiHanya jutted her chin at
Petrof.

A wry smile crossed QuiTai’s lips. “I’m the
Wolf Slayer,” she said.

The Ponongese edged away uncertainly. QuiTai
wished they would move faster; she didn’t understand why they hung back. RhiHanya
was the last to go, and she looked over her shoulder many times as she drew
away.

QuiTai forced concern for them from her mind
and focused on Petrof. The villagers would survive without her; the safety of
the entire world did not rest on her shoulders. The deadliest threat was to her
alone, and he stood before her.

“Tell me, my little bitch, what did the
Ravidians smuggle onto this island? I’m sure you know, just as I’m sure that
you decided to cheat me out of my take.”

“Nothing you could sell. Not without bringing
the entire colonial government and Thampurian military down on you with a
vengeance.”

Petrof circled. “You think you’re so smart,
but you don’t know everything. I’m good friends with the colonial government
right now, or at least a high-placed official. He paid quite handsomely to make
sure you couldn’t help Kyam Zul.”

“Someone paid you to kill me? Is that what
this is about? Then why take Jezereet?” Matters were more complicated than she had
thought. Someone thought she was dangerous enough to want her dead. That
someone also probably hoped she’d be enslaved with the other Ponongese on Cay
Rhi. They wouldn’t react well to her escape.

“That greedy whore sold you out for a vial of
black lotus. She knew I would kill you. She opened the window so I’d know you
were there. She’s dead because she wouldn’t let me finish strangling you until
she was paid. That’s all that whore wanted. And you thought she loved you.” He
sneered. “No one loves you, QuiTai. Not even your own people.”

Get angry
, she thought. His anger was the key to her
survival. The thing she feared most was his wolf form. She’d seen what a wolf
could do to a Ponongese. There was no way she could move fast enough to strike
him with her fangs before he mortally wounded her. She had to provoke him into attacking
her while still in his human form.

Get angry and grab my throat,
and then we will talk of love.

“All your dumb dogs are hanging from the
fortress ramparts, Petrof. Food for gulls until they rot and fall into the
water. Then they’re shark bait. That’s hardly the heroic end werewolves sing
about in your pathetic drinking songs.”

“Shut up!”

“There’s nothing sadder than a lone cur
eating garbage from the gutter.”

“I prefer the fresh, juicy liver of a young
girl.” Petrof held the instant jellylantern near his face so she could see him
smack his lips. “Your daughter was tasty, QuiTai.”

Rage washed over her with blistering heat.
Old wounds ripped open in her soul. Harsher than the sea wasp’s sting, the
memory of her daughter’s dying screams stabbed her heart. Tears poured down her
cheeks.

She’d forgiven every betrayal. She’d handed
him everything he’d ever asked for. She’d cared for him.

He hurt my QuiZhun.

She lunged at him with the machete.

His hand shot out and gripped her throat. Her
machete fell to the ground as he lifted her from the ground and shook her.

Petrof’s grin mocked her. “Oh, QuiTai,
QuiTai, my favorite little snake.” He put the instant jellylantern close to her
face, nearly blinding her. “Your lips are turning blue. Soon your tongue will
bloat. I’d eat it first, but then you wouldn’t be able to beg.

The fearless hatred, so quickly roused,
drained from her as she struggled for breath.

Emotion led me into this mess.
Only thinking can save me.

She thought desperately for something to buy
time while her venom sank into his skin. “The Oracle! I’ll tell you –”
Her voice was a harsh whisper.

QuiTai felt the charge in the air. His eyes
went feral.

“I’m not falling for that anymore.”

QuiTai gasped for air as his grip tightened.
She sucked on her fangs, filling her mouth with venom. Black spots slid across
her vision. She spat in his face.

“You stupid bitch!” He smeared her spit off
his cheek with the back of the hand holding the jellylantern. She kicked as
hard as she could: the jellylantern flew from his grasp and shattered on the
ground. Her mind swam. Her lungs were ready to burst. She was going to pass
out. Gathering her last reserve of clarity, she filled her mouth with more
venom and spat at him again.

He screamed as he dropped her, and clapped
his hands to his eye. “What did you do? It burns!”

QuiTai doubled over and gasped for air. Tears
welled in her eyes as her venom connected to his nerves. He made a wild grab
for her, but she stumbled away.

“I can’t fucking see, and my face is going
numb.”

He didn’t need to tell her. She could faintly
feel everything he did, even his rising panic.

Petrof staggered like a drunk as he clutched
his face. He tripped over a vine and fell to his knees.

QuiTai drew in deep breaths through her nose.
She felt cruel and powerful as his fear overwhelmed his anger. “The Oracle is
real, Petrof, and you’re going to meet her. Of course, you have many times
before, even if you don’t remember.” She kicked his shoulder as hard as she
could. He slumped to his side. She punched his jaw, sending him sprawling.
 
Then she dropped her full weight onto
his chest and pinned his elbows to the ground with her knees. She could see
every step. She knew exactly what needed to be done, and how it would all play
out. The clarity was exhilarating.

“Never say I go back on my word, Petrof.” She
held up the vial of black lotus. “This is the Oracle. Can you see? Maybe if I
put it in front of your good eye.”

He tried to spit at her, but it dribbled down
his chin.

She unscrewed the top of the vial. “One part
vapor, another part venom. Although the black lotus I used isn’t exactly vapor,
so I’m not sure if it will work right. This could be extremely painful for you.
Hmm.” As if deep in thought, she put her finger to her chin. “I’ll tell you
what. You tell me who hired you to kill me, and I won’t force this on you. Or
you can refuse, and we’ll find out how much pain the Oracle can put you
through. I’ll be sure to take note of every scream. Is that a deal?”

It was a lie, of course. Black lotus never
brought pain, and her venom only paralyzed, but from the fear pumping through
him, he didn’t know that.

“Fuck you.”

QuiTai gripped his jaw. He thrashed back and
forth. She crawled up his chest and trapped his head between her knees. He
punched her ribs and tried to throw her off him. Then he clenched his jaw. No
matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t pry it open.

Another punch knocked her off balance enough
that she had to put a hand down to steady herself. Pain sliced through her palm.
She lifted her hand: a glowing shard of the broken instant jellylantern glowed
across the sea wasp scar. She gripped the slippery chunk and ripped it from her
skin. Blood spilled from the wound.

Petrof’s shifting energy gathered. He began
to change.

QuiTai shoved the shard of glass into his
throat.

As he howled in outrage, she poured the black
lotus mixture into his open mouth and clamped her bleeding hand over it.

Petrof grabbed her neck again with both
hands, but his fingers couldn’t keep their grip. He looked at his hand as if he’d
never seen anything so terrible before.

Forcing his mouth open was easier this time.
She leaned close enough that her lips brushed his while she milked the last drops
of her venom into his mouth.

“I tried to be exact about the dose, because
you know how much I hate sloppy work, but it’s pretty much a guess at this
point how long it will take all this venom to work through your system. It
could take hours. I, of course, would prefer it take days.”

She tore strips from his shirt and bound each
of his forearms tightly. Another strip bound her blood-soaked hand.

“What are you doing?” His voice broke.

“Making sure you don’t bleed to death. I can’t
possibly carry your entire body back to the den by myself, after all.”

Real fear opened his eyes. It quickly changed
to anger.

“I kept you alive, you ungrateful bitch! The
man from the colonial government paid us to kill the Qui clan. You were
supposed to die too, but I protected you! And for that, they tortured me. They
said they’d let me go if I killed you or gave them the secret of the Oracle.
But you – oh no, you wouldn’t tell me. They were going to torture me
again, all because of you!”

The rising terror in his babbling voice would
have been enough to convince her, but she felt the depth of his horror too. She
wasn’t about to bargain with him for the name of the man who set the wolves
loose on her daughter and family. She would make it her life’s work to find out
who he was, but without Petrof’s help.

QuiTai picked up the machete and slowly wove
it back and forth in the hypnotizing dance of a snake charmer. She chose her
words with great care, so she could relish them when she repeated this story to
herself later.

“The paralysis will spread slowly. You’ll
feel everything, and you’ll be conscious for most of it, but you won’t be able
to move.”

“Please, don’t.” His voice slurred as the
venom spread to his tongue.