Vengeance (34 page)

Her arm snakes
around my back and I flinch.  “You’re alive?  I
saw Hendrix kill you!”

“No,”
she shakes her head and forces me to hop with her as she rushes me
toward the opening.  “You only saw what we wanted you to
see.”

A
great giant hand reaches through the shattered window to grasp me in
its clutches, drawing me out into the frigid night air.  Natasha
hops down beside me and I glance back just in time to see my mattress
explode into a cloud of fluff.  
Thesa
is down there!  

“Wait!”
I cry out, beating against the giant’s arm as it winds around
me.  “Thesa is in there.  We have to save her!”

“She knew the
risks.”  Natasha pats the giant’s arm and I turn to
look up at him, recognizing the orange tufts of hair behind the
ogre-like man’s ears.  

“Handal?
 You’re alive too?”

“He won’t
be for long if you don’t shut your trap and let us get out of
here,” Natasha snaps.  She motions for Handal to follow
her and fires off a round of cover fire.  I have no idea how a
man of such great size can manage to move so smoothly but what I
anticipated to cause great pain is actually a rather soothing motion.
 I look down at the ground and realize that Handal is holding me
aloft, cradling me like a child.

“I don’t
understand.  How are you still alive?  How are you here?”

Natasha ducks behind
one of the vehicle wheels, her gun held aloft before her.  In
the dim light I’m pretty sure I see her roll her eyes.  “Does
shut up mean nothing to you?”

She whips around and
fires off another three rounds.  The return fire misses her by
less than an inch.  Throwing herself to the ground, she rolls
and takes out two soldiers but many more begin to pour in.

“You’ll
never make it,” I say, trying to see around Handal’s
great frame.  “We are outnumbered.”

“You think?”
 She grunts and tosses a small silver orb through the air.  I
can hear her count to three before she ducks low, covering her head
with her hands.  Handal curls his great form around me but I am
still rocked by the explosion.  Cries of pain rise above the
zings of laser fire as the laser grenade takes out a group of
soldiers behind us.

“Handal, run!”

Natasha is fast.
 She weaves in and among the vehicles with ease.  Handal
shows a similar grace, but his great size makes it more difficult for
him to slip between.  When we reach one particularly narrow gap,
he raises me high into the air over his head and squeezes through.
 The vehicle rocks as he shoves, bouncing on its axles.

Although
I am only aloft for a brief moment I can see the forces mounting up
behind us and my stomach rises into my throat.  We don’t
stand a chance.  Hundreds of soldiers have begun to amass,
illuminated by their drawn swords.  They are beautiful against
the lightless sky.  Each rises about three feet in length and
glows a brilliant white, reminding me of sun beating down across an
ice-glazed snowy mountain, so bright you want to look away.  

“Move,
Handal!” I turn to look at Natasha as she dips down to her
knees and chucks three more silver orbs behind us, aiming beneath
each of the vehicles nearby.  The tank-like vehicle goes up
first in an explosion of molten metal and flames.  It bursts off
the ground and tumbles side over side until it slams into one of the
mobile barracks.  

I don’t look
back as the second and third explosions rock the night.  Handal
chases after Natasha’s fleeing figure in the dark, moving
deeper into the swamp.  With each step that Handal takes I can
feel his struggle and know that his extra weight must make him sink
faster into the muck.

“You can’t
escape them out here,” I shout to Natasha.  

“We don’t
have to.  We’ve got guys coming for us.”  I
hear her call come from ahead but I can’t see her.  The
light of the flames behind us isn’t enough to see by ahead of
us.  A trickle of fear begins to wiggle through me as I hear
Handal grunt and stumble to the left.  

“Handal?”

“No worry.”
 There is pain in his voice, deep and raw.  “Keep
going.”

His steps are
labored as he surges through the knee deep waters.  In the best
of light they are murky.  The human eye can’t penetrate
the muddy depths but I know there are all manner of vile creatures
that live within and if I were to bet money I would say one of them
just took a chunk out of his leg.

“Natasha,”
I scream, realizing that my voice has grown hoarse.  “Handal
is hurt!”

I can hear splashing
off to my right but I can’t tell if she is coming back or not.
 Handal turns to follow the sound and cries out again.  His
grip on me tightens and I begin to feel a burning in my lungs as he
squeezes me but I can’t ask him to loosen his grip.  I
have a feeling that I’m the only reason why he’s still on
his feet.

“You’re
doing great, Handal,” I soothe, placing a hand on his arm.
 “You are very brave.”

He increases his
speed and follows blindly after Natasha.  The cold night air
nips at my exposed skin.  The rough fabric dress that I wear is
hardly suitable for these freezing temperatures but I say nothing,
knowing that Handal is suffering far more than I am.  As my
teeth begin to chatter I realize that the fever that has clung to me
these past few days has broken.  

I guess that is
one thing to be grateful for!

“Over here!”

Handal immediately
shifts, hoisting his legs high to plunge back in.  He stumbles
forward as something rams into him.  His fingers clamp down so
tightly against my legs and arms that I fear my bones will snap in
half.  His pain hisses through his clenched teeth.

“I’m so
sorry,” I cry as tears sting my eyes.  His gait is off as
he greatly favors his right leg.  

“No sorry,”
he says.  He ducks as a red laser blasts through the trees,
lighting the swamp around me.  I suck in a breath as it
highlights the bony-ridged backs of several white monsters as they
slip beneath the surface, heading straight for us.  “Happy
to--”

I cry out as Handal
screams and is yanked off his feet.  The blast of icy water
fills my nose and mouth as I plunge beneath the water.  The
stench of the foul liquid makes me gag as I surge back to the
surface, my stomach barely an inch or two above the water as I
struggle to balance on one foot.

I look frantically
all around in search of Handal, but he has not come up.  The
thick slime that coats the top of the water clings to my arms as I
reach for something to hold on to, knowing that if I don’t move
I will be an easy target.

“Natasha,”
I scream at the top of my lungs.  I no longer hear her
splashing.  Has she been attacked as well?  Did she leave
us to die?

Terror clamps down
on my throat as the water goes calm around me and I am no longer
buffeted by the waves.  Red laser fire flies sporadically
through the swamp and I realize that the soldiers have picked their
way around Natasha’s flaming barricade and entered the swamp.

I can hear their
shouts as they call for me and I am tempted to call back.  Surely
death by their hand would be far better than death by these creatures
of the deep.

Something bumps
against my side. I scream and flail, desperate to rise to a standing
position but my foot keeps slipping on the sludge at the bottom.  I
cry out as I am bumped again.  In the blast of a laser I stare
down in horror at the severed arm that washes up against me.  As
a laser blasts nearly ten feet over my head I realize that the water
all around me is thick with blood.

“Handal,”
I whimper as I use my arms to swim backward.  I shriek as my
back slams into something solid.

Using
my arms as leverage I turn to find myself backed up against a tree.
 Thick roots plunge deep into the muck, creating a cage-like
space beneath the towering tree.  There is only a foot of space
between the roots and the water but it would be enough.  It has
to be.

My fingers quake as
I grasp at the roots, tearing them, bending them.  I fight to
wedge myself in between as I make a hole, hoping it is only large
enough to fit me inside and nothing else.

The water beside me
shifts and I feel something slither past.  I screech and yank at
the final root, shoving it aside just enough to fit my belly through.
 I dig my foot into the bottom and push with all my might.  A
stabbing pain flares near my ankle but I shake it off as I collapse
into my little hovel and desperately fight to close the roots back in
around me.

They are far more
pliable now, making it far too easy for me to risk attack but as I
kneel in the center of the small cage I suck in several deep breaths.
 The sound of wailing screams rises behind me and I know that
the soldiers are under attack.   There is no way to know
how many of those bony creatures live in these depths, but as I close
my eyes and press my forehead against the roots, I pray that once
they are done feasting they won’t need me anymore.

The screams lingered
long into the night, even hours after the laser light stopped
reaching this far into the swamp.  I tried to plug my ears to
avoid hearing their slow deaths as they were torn apart piece by
piece, but it was impossible.  My teeth chatter from the frigid
waters.  My ankle throbs with a growing intensity.  

I huddle in my cage,
clutching my belly and praying for an end.  At this point I
don’t care who finds me as long as I am not forced to wade
through this nightmare on my own.

I have not seen or
heard from Natasha. She is either dead or has abandoned me.  Either
way I know that I am in great danger.  I do not have my walking
stick to help me even if I did find a way to swim to safety.  

From time to time I
can feel small disturbances in the water beneath me.  I can only
pray that they are fish trying to escape the larger predators as
well.  So far I have been left alone but I have no idea how long
that will last.

Not long after the
final cries cut off my eyelids begin to droop.  I smack my face,
trying to stay awake but I know that I am in extreme danger of
hypothermia.  I am already aware of the loss of feeling that is
beginning to creep into my extremities.  The stabbing pain in my
ankle has begun to recede.

“Illyria!”
 My head whips up and I stare out into the dark.  “Illyria!”

That voice!  I
know that voice!

“Bastien!”
I scream, pushing to the edge of the root cage bars. I grip them with
fingers far too stiff.  They ache as I attempt to curl them
around the roots.  “Bastien, I’m here!”

The sluggish yet
logical part of my brain tells me not to trust Bastien.  He is
sure to be the imposter but I have no other choice.  It is
either call out and be saved or die here in the muck.

“Where are
you?”  His voice sounds distant and I realize he is moving
away.

Frantically I begin
beating at the water, knowing that the sound of the splashing will be
far louder than my hoarse voice.  In the recesses of my mind I
know that the splashing will alert other predators as well but I have
to take the chance.  

“Illyria!”
 This time the shout is closer.  

I grip one of the
roots and yank, grunting as I fight to tear it free.  It twists
in my hands, too slimy to get a good grip.  I give up trying to
use it as way to bang to call for help and just start screaming.

I can hear splashing
but there is something else.  Something I can feel.

There
is a vibration in the water.  Placing my hand against the tree I
can feel it in the roots as well.  
What
is that?

The temperature of
the water hikes up so fast I cry out.  My body begins to quake
in shock as the murky surface begins to bubble around me.  A
bubble here or there but increasing in frequency.  I can feel
them bursting against my skin.

Oh
god!  No!  
I
beat at the roots, my hands sliding down their slick surface as I
fight to free myself.  Day is coming and with it the waters will
begin to warm, but that is not what I fear.  The scent of sulfur
rises around me and I realize that I am trapped in the middle of one
of those hot spots that Thesa spoke of.  The spots where the
ground opens up to relieve some of the pent up gasses to allow for
the crust to remain intact.

If I don’t get
out of here fast this whole area is going to erupt!

I can hear Bastien
calling for me.  He sounds terrified, but no more so than what I
am feeling.  The roots have begun to give around me but not
nearly fast enough.  I pull until my arms begin to shake from
exhaustion and wedge my upper body through.  

“Bastien!”
I scream as my arms give out on me and the root cage clamps down
around my stomach.  I am too weak to pull myself free.  He
is my only hope now.  “Bastien, I’m trapped!”

Splashing comes from
my left and I beat against the water, desperate for him to find me.
 Already feeling has returned to my fingers and toes, and with
it biting pain.  I dig my foot into the ground, pushing with all
my might but I am wedged too tight.

“Bastien,
hurry!”

“I’m
coming!” He calls back.  The splashing grows closer.  I
desperately try to see him in the dark but it is all consuming.
 “Call to me.  I need to hear you.”

I scream until my
voice is nearly gone. I can hear him less than ten feet away and
begin to weep.  

“I’m
here,” he soothes as his hands flutters across the surface to
find me.  Strong hands curl around my arms and slowly slide down
to meet with the roots.  He gasps and pulls back.  “What
is this?”

“I’m
under a tree,” I say, clinging to him.  “You have to
pull the roots apart for me to fit through.”

He splashes around
to the side of me, bracing his body against the tree and grunts as he
pulls on the roots.  I suck in my first full breath since I
became trapped and feel a pain tear through my abdomen.