Page 40 of Ensii
The archers leapt into action, dowsing their arrows in the burning pitch and loosing the arrows after the monster as quickly as they could. Several didn’t even have pitch arrows, but jabbed their iron arrowheads directly into the thick black tar.
The arrows landed in the monster’s oily hide. The blunt pitch arrows bounced off, but several of the iron heads embedded in its flesh. Where the fire touched, the monster’s skin began to blister and bubble, popping like gruel in a pot.
The monster roared and whirled in their direction. Its barred teeth were neat and symmetrical, long and hooked backwards. They made Talitha think of a python’s jaws, but with far more of them all packed tight together.
“Scatter,” Talitha ordered, shoving the nearest archer away. “It can’t come after all of us.” For once, standing together in one place would only get them all killed. “Take up different stations and shoot from wherever you can. We’re the only thing that’s hurting it. Go!”
She snatched up the quiver and slung it across her chest before breaking into a run. She had lost track of Ashek somewhere in the madness.
Soldiers and servants ran in every direction. Their ranks had broken and Talitha didn’t even bother to try bringing them back together.
She was already fighting this thing the only way they knew how. There were only so many arrows and the others could only help as human bait.
Taking shelter behind a pillar, Talitha snatched a lamp off the hook in the wall. She jabbed her arrow head into the oil, letting it catch fire first. Her fingertips were hot and red, about to bleed, but she leapt out from behind the pillar and loosed another bolt just as the creature turned.
She caught it in the neck and it roared. Where the fire touched, its skin began to crackle and pop. Like a roasting pig’s skin, blisters and sores rippled along its oily hide. The monster pawed the arrows free, but the flames flickered on.
Where the fire touched, the flames began to spread. The creature’s skin crackled and rippled, the flames spreading. The stench of burning pitch and sulfur rose over the coppery scent of blood.
Talitha’s heart pounded like a drum in her chest. They were hurting it. This thing couldn’t last forever.
A fleeing servant with a bloody arm pressed against her belly knocked into Talitha as she fled. The ensaak stumbled back. Catching her balance, she looked up to find the monster focused on her.
The other archers rained down fire and flames like defiant fireflies. The monster snapped and snarled in their direction, but the beast had eyes only for Talitha.
Understanding hit her as sharp as her own thoughts. It was dying. It was beaten. Talitha saw Nehemian speaking with Naram and his followers, urging them to come, pleading with them, promising them victory he had half believed himself. There was the scheming, the sneaking, the use of old connections and an underground back door the priests had used for years—Talitha would have to see that was sealed.
Then had come Anakti’s voice. Talitha’s blood ran cold. Nehemian had heard from Her? The goddess was real? Her voice was real enough in Nehemian’s shadowy memories. Shaza would inherit Anakti’s blessing as Nehemian’s heir. She would offer him power, She promised. The line would not end.
Anakti had promised victory, but at the price of blood. Everything had to be bought in blood.
Nehemian had agreed, killing first his acolytes. That had begun the change, made him stronger, fiercer…different. Naram had died screaming beneath his claws and the soldiers and temple guards who’d stayed loyal had followed not long after.
Then had come the madness. Then everything that was Nehemian had been burned away, leaving nothing but the gifts of Anakti—the bloodlust and the brute strength and the hate.
So much hate. But was it Anakti’s or Nehemian’s? This hate looked on her as the supplanter, the usurper.
All this flashed by in the space of a blink and yet Talitha understood perfectly. The man, the priest, the nuisance—Nehemian—was gone. There was just this distorted, unnaturalthing.
The monster stumbled, wavering as the fire ate along its skin. A blister burst and oily blood spilled free. The oil caught fire, wicking the flames up over its muscular shoulder. Still, the beast stood tall, strong. It had a deadly amount of fight left in it.
This city is mine,came the thought. It wasn’t Nehemian’s voice and it wasn’t spoken, but Talitha heard it as plain as her own mind.Your mothers and fathers have worshipped me with the blood of their enemies for centuries. It is MINE!
“Maybe once.” Talitha found herself saying, voice still and quiet as a whisper. “But this city has a new god.”
There should have been no way the monster heard her. Yet it threw back its head and roared.
“Come see what we’ve done to your idols!” Talitha shouted, spinning around. “Come and see, you little bitch!” Loosing one final arrow, she caught the monster in the left eye before she ran.
