Page 82 of Of Song and Scepter
My spine tingles. A dredgebeast.
“This is how you’ll pay my price. No weapons. No magic. Just you and the blood in your veins.”
The skeleton that holds me lurches to a stop, and my tail curls up from the sudden change in momentum, slapping me in the face. The sharp edge of my tail slices the top of my cheek, drawing blood. In a thin, swirling tendril, my blood floats into the water, and the beast’s nares flare. One great eyelid peels open, the bright yellow orb locking on me. It releases a rumbling groan. Bones crack and snap under its weight as it shuffles, stirring clouds of sand.
Tephra’s voice cuts through the water. “Kill the beast, and your life is yours to keep,” she says. “Better swim fast, little fish.”
As the final word rings out, the thick weight on my body suddenly lifts. I flex my tail, testing it against the murky water. Relief pulses through me for a moment before adrenaline takes control.
With a push of its paddle fins, the beast emerges from the sand. Its other eye pries open, focusing on me. I eye its sharp teeth, each twice my length, and calculate the beast’s age accordingly. A mature adult. Female, judging by her size. Two streaks of red run parallel from the crown of her skull down the length of her spine, joining at a single point of her long, whipping tail. Thick, scaled armor coats her body, save for a few small weak points. I locate them quickly—the underside of her gills and fins and a soft palette between her eyes.
I instinctively reach for my knives, connecting only with smooth skin. My waist belt is gone, my knives with it. My pulse thuds in my ears as the nerves settle in; I’ve stunneda dredgebeast before, but never killed one. Not with my bare hands.
Her mouth opens wide, that great black tongue lifting at the back of her throat. She screeches. The sound blasts a torpedo of current, launching me into a spiral. I backpedal, steadying myself in the stream. The beast lunges. I dodge. The tips of my tail clear the gap in her teeth before her jaw snaps shut.
I swim along her body, forcing her to twist to find me. Keeping close to her scales without touching them, I lead her into a coil. I slip beneath her great fins, scanning for the weak points. There. The socket rotates as she tips right, baring the soft flesh. I sink my claws in deep and rip free a bloody fistful of her meat. She shrieks and snaps, whipping her long neck to find me.
As I dodge her flailing limbs, I plop the piece of meat into my mouth, warm and tender. Goddess, did I miss this taste. I glide to the next fin, then the next, plucking sweet morsels from her flesh. Her blood clouds the murky water.
A hoard of bloodfish rushes the water, following the smell of iron. Their long bodies wriggle as they screech, scenting the sores. One locks its beady eyes on me, opening its large, funneled mouth. Rows of hooked, razor teeth line the channel, spiraling deep into its gullet. The rim of its mouth quivers, sucking in a trail of my blood from the water, and then it lurches for my face.
I catch its neck in my hand, fingers pressing into its gills, and I squeeze it until its eyes pop and the teeth stop moving. I toss the corpse to the writhing mass of its kin and they devour its stringy flesh to the bone. More hooked teeth sink into my tail, tearing my scales. I swipe at them with my spines, but the teeth sink deeper with every swat of my arm. Some lose their grip, leaving a searing pain, only to be replaced by more teeth, more pain.
One latches onto my hip and sinks its teeth in deeper than I can dislodge without a knife. Its mouth quivers, suctioning tightas it begins to suck my blood. My veins burn as my blood rushes backward, flooding the fish’s mouth.
Fuck.
With my thumbs, I dig my claws into its eyes. The creature holds firm, its tail whipping furiously. Above me, the dredgebeast shifts and a screech vibrates the water, ringing in my ears. Gritting through the pain, I grasp the fish by its gills and yank as hard as I can. My flesh tears, caught in its teeth, and still, the fucker won’t let me go. I clench my teeth against the searing pain.
The dredgebeast whips her tail, freeing her body momentarily from the feeding mouths. I scramble for her tail, pulling myself up the length of her spine away from the bloodfish hoard. With my claws, I find purchase in her scales. Her neck arches, head swiveling to watch me climb. I’m exposed here on her back, but I dare not venture beneath her belly among the gnashing teeth. She strikes with her mouth, snapping at me. I release and roll, but the edge of her tooth slices deep into my forearm, gouging free a few of my spines. I howl in pain, holding on by the end of my claws. Latched to my side, the bloodfish drinks greedily. My mind grows fuzzy, and the water begins to spin.
The beast tucks her fins, breaking into a dive. Then, she climbs toward the surface, the current sliding over her lithe body. I’m an attachment, dragging in the stream. The pressure of the water batters me, threatening the strength of my grip. I grunt with exertion; my gills flutter nervously along my neck, fighting to filter oxygen. Fear stings like a whetted knife through my beating heart. The dredgebeast is bleeding but strong. My efforts have barely affected her, and here I am, my arm mottled, a gash in my side and face, and my energy reserves depleting from blood loss. I cannot Voice my way out of this. And if I don’t survive, I will never see Soren again.
My heart aches at the impending loss of him. Odissa will find a way to ruin him, and my sacrifice will have been for nothing. I cling to the side of the beast and choke out a curse.
Fuck Odissa. Fuck this blood oath. I should have never agreed to help her; it was a chum-brained pursuit from the start.
The dredgebeast stalls in the water, and I fling forward, sliding up the length of its neck. It twists its head and strikes, catching my tail between its teeth. I shriek in pain and try to wrestle free, but her tooth has impaled the membrane of my fin. I cannot break free without ripping the soft tissue. The beast whips her head, and I fly with her, moments away from becoming her snack.
I kick my tail, trying to rip free, but her tongue snakes out, twisting around my waist. The slippery leather of it holds me fast. The bloodfish releases its teeth at last, abandoning me to my fate.
“I’m sorry, Soren,” I cry out, my heart palpitating with the pain of my loss. “Soren, Soren, Soren.”
Chapter fifty
Soren
“She speaks, Your Highness.”Someone squeezes my shoulder, and I flinch awake. The healer apologizes for waking me, then gestures toward Enna.
Enna floats in the saltwater tank. Her face is turned toward me, features smooth with sleep. Gills flutter in constant rhythm along her neck. She’s been this way for a full day. Her eyes are closed, but her mouth moves now, muttering something I cannot hear. Bubbles stir and lift from her parted lips.
I place my hand on the glass. “What did she say?”
“I’m not sure.”
We press our ears against the glass. The tank water thuds with a drowning echo, faintly tuned with the sound of Enna’s hushed voice.
“I cannot make it out,” says the healer. “But I thought you’d want to know. This is the first sign of progress since we stabilized her this past high tide.”
