Page 119 of The Weaver

Eyes darting from side to side, Ahmya strained to hear any sign of what the female was doing. Dread, icy cold and weighty, pooled in her belly.

Ogahnkai roared. The top of the log exploded inward not two feet from Ahmya, spraying her with wood chips and splinters. One of the vrix’s legs hammered down on the bottom of the log, making the whole thing shake.

Ahmya screamed and scrambled back, the toe of her boot actually touching the vrix’s limb.

A second leg burst through the top of the log, this one much closer. Ahmya fell back, catching herself on her elbows as the leg came down between her thighs, which had been spread only by sheer luck.

“I will crush you,” Ogahnkai growled, tearing her legs out and ripping away more wood in the process. “I will break your soft, disgusting body for our queen!”

As fast as she could, Ahmya retreated, barely aware of the cuts and scrapes she was collecting on her hands, elbows, and legs. Ogahnkai stomped on the log again and again. Each time, Ahmya’s heart leapt into her throat, and her insides twisted into a tighter and tighter knot. Each time, more of the log collapsed.

She turned onto her belly and lifted her head. The otheropening was only a few feet away, partially blocked by dirt and debris.

Hope flared in her chest despite her knowing how foolish it was. Even if she made it out, she wasn’t fast enough to escape. But she’d never been one to give up, and she wasn’t about to start. Not even now.

With the deafening noise of Ogahnkai destroying the log enveloping her, Ahmya dove forward, burying her fingers in the dirt. She frantically raked handfuls of it away from the opening. The log shook violently with the relentless assault, which only seemed to grow more furious with each strike.

Ahmya dragged herself forward. The opening was tight, but the ground was thankfully soft. The instant her legs were clear, she shoved herself onto her feet and began running before she was even fully upright.

Face forward, move as fast as you?—

Something heavy struck her leg, knocking it out from beneath her. She fell hard on her side, tumbled, and came to rest on her back. A pained groan rose from her throat.

Ogahnkai loomed over Ahmya, impossibly large and imposing. Her shoulders rose and fell with her heaving breaths, and the lower segments of her forelegs glistened with blood from numerous cuts and splinters on her dark hide.

Ahmya flattened her hands on the ground to push herself up. Her right hand came down on a rough stone jutting from the dirt.

“For the queen!” Ogahnkai snarled.

All the terror Ahmya had felt in her whole life, especially since coming out of cryosleep to find herself in this alien world, should’ve washed over her at that moment. Those dark, frigid waters should’ve risen over her head and devoured her. Because…this was it, wasn’t it?

But all she could think about was Rekosh. All she could hope for was that he was all right…that he would be all right.

Ahmya pried the stone from the ground and threw it. With a dullthunk, it struck Ogahnkai’s face. The vrix’s head snapped aside, and she staggered back half a step, slapping a hand over her eyes and growling.

Though Ahmya knew those powerful legs would lash out with blind but lethal fury, she struggled to get back onto her feet and keep going. If Ogahnkai remained occupied, it was one fewer fanatical vrix actively trying to harm Rekosh.

The female vrix reared back, raising both forelegs high. She roared, but the sound was drowned out by another roar, far louder, far harsher, far more primal. A roar that both sent a chill into Ahmya’s bones and sparked heat in her belly.

However bestial it had sounded, Ahmya knew her mate when she heard him.

Before either female could so much as look toward the source of that roar, before those massive legs could come down on Ahmya, a blur of black and red crashed into Ogahnkai.

With only two legs on the ground, the female vrix fell aside heavily. Rekosh landed atop her.

Ahmya’s heart pounded as she watched the frenzied struggle. Ogahnkai had an immense advantage in size, weight, and strength, but Rekosh fought like the embodiment of wildness and rage. He attacked faster than Ahmya’s eyes could comprehend, using every limb to inflict damage. Claws, fangs, and an obsidian-headed axe shredded Ogahnkai’s hide. She grabbed at him over and over, but she might as well have been grasping at smoke.

And Rekosh snarled repeatedly—not just meaningless, savage sounds, but words.

“Mine.Mine. She is mine!”

He shoved Ogahnkai’s cheek into the dirt, raised the axe high, and brought it down on her neck. One of her hands finally caught him, claws sinking into his side.

Ahmya’s heart skipped a beat.

Unfazed, Rekosh brought the axe down again and again and again, punctuating each brutal blow with a growledmine.

Wet, choked sounds burst from Ogahnkai, and her struggles weakened until, finally, she fell still and silent. Between the blood and dirt clinging to the fabric, little white remained on her silk wrappings.

---