Page 108 of Eldritch
The whole pit shook with a loud bellow as the charnelyth rose up, its eyes more menacing than before and blazing with malice.
They locked onto Vaelora.
Zevander’s mind churned, eyes searching for a way to wound it, somehow. The beast’s tail slammed into the wall of the cavern, breaking loose shards of rock, and Zevander eyed a long, spear-like piece of it lying just behind it. To get to it, he’d have to abandon Vaelora for a moment, but if he could somehow pierce the creature, it might distract it.
Maybe even kill it.
He lurched for the weapon, but stopped short when the charnelyth hissed, it’s long, red tongue lashing out at him. It struck like a whip against his arm, slicing across his flesh with a hot streak of pain.
“Fucking hell!” Zevander gripped his shoulder, backing himself away. He turned to Vaelora, who stood trembling, her face twisted into a silent sob. “When I give you the signal, I want you to run behind it!”
“What? No!”
“Trust me, Vaelora!” Zevander growled. “I will not let it take you!”
“Promise me. Promise me you won’t let me die in its nest.”
“I promise you.” Taking deep breaths through his nose, Zevander focused on the spear. “At my command …” He rolled his shoulders back.
Without warning, the beast drew back, fangs gleaming, and struck fast.
“Now!”
Zevander pivoted to the side and darted forward for the spear. He swiped it up quickly. As the beast turned for Vaelora, Zevander plunged the tip of the spear into his body, cutting through its scales like a hot blade.
It roared and hissed and thrashed in a vicious rage, but Zevander held tight to the weapon and dragged it up the length of its soft underside. Vaelora’s screams echoed around him, but he remained determined to kill it, and pulled on the edges of its deadly gash, spilling its entrails to hasten its death.
Blood and rancid-smelling viscera poured onto the ground, pooling around his feet. The beast teetered, let out another roar, then collapsed. It convulsed, eyes bulging, and let out one more violent tremor before it finally stilled.
A surge of adrenaline shot through him, the elation of victory sending a cold rush to his muscles.
Zevander snapped his gaze to Vaelora, and tendrils of dread climbed up his spine.
Her lower body was hidden in the mouth of another enormous charnelyth, and eyes blazing with terror, she reached out for him. “Your wrist!” she screamed. “The poison! Please!”
Zevander lurched for her, but intense pressure at his throat threw his feet out from under him, and he clutched a noose that’d been tied around his neck without him knowing.
Vaelora let out a gut-wrenching scream, and in the next breath, she was yanked into the black cave behind her.
One heave threw Zevander backward and trapped the air in his lungs as his spine slammed into the rock wall. From one of the caves, he saw two glowing eyes watching him. Zevander clawed at the bind, gasping and wheezing. Sharp stone scraped against his back, as he was hoisted upward by his neck. The pressure intensified, the noose cinching his windpipe. He opened his mouth, but could neither inhale, nor exhale.
The beast charged forward, snapping its tusks, just missing Zevander’s thrashing legs. He clawed at the rope biting into his throat, and another hard tug lifted him higher.
The charnelyth below him snapped its tusks again, that time, piercing his thigh.
He couldn’t scream. Couldn’t make so much as a sound, while the creature shook its head to get loose, thrashing his limb like a hooked fish.
Pain vibrated through Zevander’s bones, and a cold numbing sensation crawled from his legs up into his chest, spreading across his lungs. His vision narrowed, the blackness on the fringes closing in.
Until, at last, he let it take him.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
ZEVANDER
Zevander frowned, clutching his throat where a phantom ache lingered. Memories curled around his mind like barbed vines.
Golden skin. A dark pit. Screams. Horrible screams. An enormous serpent. Vaelora’s terrified eyes.
