Page 37 of The Scattered Bones

When my bones are nothing but dust coating the earth, I’ll still want you.

I say his name silently, for it’ll never break. “I will find him.”

“And the wed gods will guide you.”

I open my mouth to respond when the reeds ahead shift, and I freeze. That was not the wind. That was something in the grass. Something large. Something fast, and it’s aimed at where I stand.

Twelve

The hidden predator surges toward me, and I force my aching legs to run. The creature is moving too fast for me to outrun, but gods be damned, I refuse to be easy prey. I’ve barely eaten these past few days, my energy waning as the scar on my thigh aches, but the rustling behind me urges me to flee faster. My burning lungs can’t maintain this pace, though. The mud sucks at my feet, and the reeds beat my limbs. Every direction looks the same in these grasslands. I don’t know which way to run, and the unseen predator grows closer. Closer. Closer. And then the grass falls still.

Panic forces me to skid to a halt. It’s as if whatever was chasing me vanished, and I try to slow my breathing enough to listen for movement, but all I hear is my own thudding heart. The fear was cruel when I saw the monster’s movements, but the stillness is worse. It could be anywhere, waiting for me to make a mistake.

I worry my breath will rattle the grass, giving away my location as I search the nothingness. I don’t move, but neither does it. Prey and Predator locked in a stalemate, and only one wrong move will determine which of us is which.

Another slick body slides across my ankle, and a strangled hiss slips past my lips before I clamp my mouth shut. The grass rustles to my left, and I burst into a run, berating myself for being so weak. I’m too exhausted to outrun whatever monster hunts me, but I can’t let it catch me. I can tell by the thunder of its steps that it’s more than triple my size. It’s a fight I won’t win.

My ankle twists, and I yelp as I crash to the marshy water, mud splattering my teeth as my face smacks the earth. I scramble to stand, but the sludge sucks at my hands and feet. I fall again, chest slapping the ground with a loud thwack, and the creature changes direction, aiming for the sound.

I frantically search for something other than the sodden grass roots to help pull myself out of the mud, but as I lift my eyes, I come face to face with a forked tongue tasting the air. I freeze as the small black snake hisses, but then it darts to the side, its slimy body caressing my arm. The familiar feeling dawns on me, but I fight down the scream. Snakes. They were what kept brushing my ankles, and a terrifying notion worms into my brain. Is this how the monster keeps finding me? Are the snakes signaling their master?

That thought burns fear into my chest, and I find the strength to haul myself out of the swamp. I can barely run, but I push my muscles to their breaking point. I won’t die here in the mud. I won’t let snakes devour me whole. I won’t—

Something fleshy and damp wraps around my ankle and yanks. I fall so hard that my stomach cramps at the impact, and the mud forces its way into my mouth. I gag as it hits the back of my throat, no longer caring to keep quiet as I thrash against the grasp on my leg. Glancing behind me, I instantly regret that decision, for a massive tail is choking my limb, scaly and greenish brown. Its end is tapered, but the further into the grass it winds, the thicker it grows until it’s as wide as my waist. I strain to catch sight of the hidden body it’s attached to, but the monster shifts, yanking me backward. My chest drags over the earth, my fingers trying to find anything solid, but it’s no use. There’s nothing but grass here. No stones, no branches, and the tail cuts harshly into my ankle as if to prove it’s the only power in the Mitte Midagi.

Snakes dance about me as the unseen beast drags my helpless form through the grasslands. They slip over my limbs, coil around my torso, twist against my skin. I cannot scream. I cannot fight. The fear’s overwhelming, and I may not know what kind of creature owns this scaly tail, but I know who found me. The monster with an appetite for human flesh, and I am its next meal.

I don’t know how long it drags me, but suddenly the ground changes from mud to dry dirt and then to rock. The pain increases as my chest grates over stone, and then the world plunges into darkness. The Cave. The pull of his bones is so intense that I know he’s here, but I won’t find him. I cannot escape this monster’s hold, and soon I’ll be nothing but flesh caught between its teeth.

I struggle even though I know it’s useless. The grip on my ankle is too strong, my foot turning blue from the lack of blood flow, but I’m too stubborn to surrender. I’ve survived too much, fought too hard to give up now, so I thrash and scream and pray. My skin bleeds as the monster hauls me further into the cavern. The air is dark and musty. The ground is hard and damp. I don’t know how far we descend, the stalagmites and stalactites growing increasingly threatening. If only I possessed the strength to rip them from the earth and plunge their sharpened ends into the beast.

Eventually, a dim light illuminates the cavern, but I barely register my surroundings before I’m drowning. I cough and sputter, treading water until I break the surface. I choke as the creature tows me through an underground lake. The water is freezing, and my teeth are chattering by the time the razor-sharp tail drags me to the opposite stone shore. It’s inexplicably lighter here, but before I can take stock of the environment, it releases me.

I scramble backward, my ankle leaving a trail of blood as I lunge for the water’s edge. Light from tiny crevices in the cave’s ceiling reflects off of piles of gold, and I realize that’s why it’s brighter here. The Stranger was right. The monster of the Mitte Midagi guards a treasure horde of unprecedented glory. But despite the endless wealth, the likes of which not even Hreinasta has seen, I’m blind to it. I cannot focus on gold and silver, the coins and jewels, for in the dimness I finally see the man-eater, and my stomach drops.

The creature is unfathomably large, taller than me as he stands on four scaly legs. Vicious teeth protrude from an angular snout, and its tail whips behind it, knocking coins from their piles with echoing clatters. Its hot breath bathes my skin, the stench of death thick in the air, and I’m paralyzed by the reptilian monstrosity before me. It must have once been a crocodile, but black magic swelled him to an unnatural size. My entire torso could fit in his jaws, but by the gleam in his yellowed eyes, he has no intentions of starting with my head. No, this monster will want to hear me scream as he eats.

I frantically search for an escape, but with the water at my back and the beast at my front, I won’t make it more than five steps. The pull of Kaid’s body is so strong, I know he’s here, but I’ll never locate him among the piles of gold before I, too, am ripped to shreds.

Stranger, help me, I don’t know what to do.

The creature lunges, and I throw myself to the ground to avoid its fangs, my shoulder slapping the stone with bruising force as I roll. The pain drags a scream from my throat, but I don’t stop until my feet are back under me. My scarred thigh burns as I push to a stand, but the crocodile’s tail thrashes out with a speed an animal that large shouldn’t possess. I barely see it before it slams into my gut, tossing me across the cavern. I land on my side hard enough to dislocate my shoulder, and I scream as my left arm pops out of its socket. My vision blurs, but nothing can hide the size of the monster stalking toward me. I wish the blow had rendered me unconscious. I don’t want to feel my bones crack between its teeth as it consumes me.

I’m in too much agony to fight, but even if I was healthy, the scales of battle are tipped in his favor. Perhaps that’s why The Stranger didn’t answer me. He knows as well as I that my life was forfeited the moment the tail captured my leg.

The creature’s thundering footfalls shake the earth, and while I should force my aching body to stand up, to flee, my blurred eyesight fixates on the gold. It glitters in the pale light, and I stare, mesmerized by its beauty. I can’t look away. It won’t let me. Perhaps it’s my mind avoiding the inevitable, or—

My vision focuses on it, and The Stranger’s words flood my memory.You say the gods abandoned you, yet your face burns with Lovec’s mark.The Stranger did answer me. He showed me my deliverance, and I launch myself at the towering gold. It’s taller than the monster, rolling hills of treasure that extend endlessly, but my eyes are drawn to the one object that might save my life. It’s an exquisite work of craftsmanship, studded with priceless jewels, but they aren’t what captures my attention. The polished blade extending from its hilt does. A sword, as sharp as the day it was forged, protrudes from the top of the third golden hill. And if I can get to it…

Lovec, bless my hunt.I am not the prey. I am the hunter.

Left arm useless, I scramble over the coins, using my right hand to force myself up. The unstable surface gives way below my feet, but I do not relent. The creature launches onto the gold behind me, but the slipping treasure can’t support its weight. It collapses beneath him, sending him sliding back to the stone. The loosening avalanche threatens my footing, but I’m nearly at the first ridge. Not caring about my injured arm, I throw myself over to the other side and roll down, dislocated shoulder alive with agony.

Lovec, guide my steps.

I scream in pain, in resolve, in violence, and I’m up the second swell before the beast crashes through the gold. The sliding piles disrupt my climb, and I slip backward, but I keep moving, keep living.

Lovec, grant me strength.

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