Page 85 of Tharn's Hunt
The words finally penetrate the fog in my mind. Dust serpent. One of the most dangerous predators of the deep dust. They tunnel beneath the surface, hunting by vibration, erupting from below to drag their prey under the dust, where they slowly suffocate before being consumed.
I scan the ground, suddenly alert for the telltale signs. The slight ripple on the sand's surface. The thin spout that marks the serpent's passage.
There. A straight line of disturbed sand, barely visible, moving slowly toward our group.
"Move," I project urgently, the word lashing out to include all of them. "Now. Away from the line!"
Jus-teen reacts immediately, grabbing Rok's arm and pulling him back. But Jah-kee, unable to hear the mindspace warning, remains where she is, her expression confused.
"What's wrong?" she asks, looking between us. "What's happening?"
The sand beneath her feet shifts subtly. Too subtly for her to notice, but my hunter's eyes catch the movement.
The serpent is directly beneath her.
There is no time for explanation, no time for warnings. I move purely on instinct, lunging forward and shoving Jah-kee aside with all my strength. She flies through the air, landing hard several paces away as the sand where she stood erupts.
The serpent bursts upward, its massive body uncoiling like a whip. Dust-colored plates ripple along its length, and beneath them, black, glistening underscales that seem to drink in Ain’s light. Its head is nothing but a mouth. No eyes, no snout, just a circular mouth that blooms open, expanding wider than its own body.
It towers above me, swaying slightly, searching for the prey it sensed moments ago.
Then it strikes.
I dive to the side, but I am slower than usual, my reflexes dulled by pain and distraction. The serpent's head misses me by a claw’s width, but I feel the displacement of air as it passes, smell the foul rot from its maw. The ground shudders behind me. A second eruption of sand. The serpent's tail whips through the air, faster than sight, and slams into me, wrapping around my leg with crushing force.
I hear Jah-kee scream, the sound distant and distorted as the serpent drags me backward, toward the hole it created. My claws scrape against sand, seeking purchase, finding none.
Rok is moving, but he is too far. The sand is already closing around my legs, the serpent pulling me down into its tunnel.
In the last moment before the dust swallows me completely, I catch a glimpse of Jah-kee's face. Her water-blue eyes wide with terror, her mouth open in a scream I can no longer hear.
I'm going to lose her, I think as darkness closes around me. And I never told her. Never claimed her. Never completed the bond.
The serpent's grip tightens, pulling me deeper into the earth. I fight against it, claws extended, slashing blindly at thecreature's armored hide. But in the confines of the tunnel, with no room to maneuver, my attacks are ineffective.
My lungs burn for air. The pressure against my chest builds, squeezing mercilessly.
I am going to die here, beneath the dust, unclaimed and unclaiming.
The thought brings a surge of rage so intense it burns through the pain, the lack of air, the crushing pressure. No. I will not die. Not like this. Not before I make Jah-kee mine.
Not before I let her know how much she has come to mean to me.
Chapter 25
BURIED ALIVE AND OTHER ROMANTIC GETAWAYS
JACQUI
One second, Tharn is beside me; the next, he’s shoving me with enough force to send me flying.
I hit the sand hard, the impact knocking the breath from my lungs, but I barely register the pain because what I see next freezes the blood in my veins.
Where I was standing just moments ago, the ground has exploded upward. Something massive and pale bursts from the sand. A nightmare creature with segmented armor plates and a gaping circular mouth ringed with teeth.
The air vibrates with a hiss Ifeelmore thanhear.
It towers above Tharn, its eyeless head turning as if scenting the air… and then it strikes.
