Page 61 of Kingdom of Rot & Ruin
His bloodshot eyes met mine, face twisting in shock. His skin was gray with fear.
“Did she? Todeath?”
Oh, my gods. What a moron.
“She threw you up to adragon,did she not?” I grit out.
He put his head in his hands, shaking it frantically.
I would get nothing out of him until he sobered up and came to grips with things.
“You are welcome to the cave once night falls. Don’t cause problems. The dragon might not eat you, but hewouldset you on fire for annoying us.”
To illustrate my point, Zariah let out a flaming belch, two feet above the Noble’s head. He slid to his belly, hands over his head and breathing heavily.
I left him to it, Zariah’s amused growls and the Noble’s squeals following me back into the cave.
Chapter
Fifteen
The Noble must have ventured into our cave after darkness fell. All I knew was that when Shava, D, and I curled up into our little nest of blankets that night, he hadn’t been inside with us.
But the moans and cries that woke me halfway through the night definitely came frominsidethe cave.
The moon shone brightly, giving at least enough illumination to see by as it filtered in through the opening in the cave, and several larger cracks in the walls itself.
“Ssh! Shut it! You’ll wake the boy!” Shava whispered fiercely, towards the sound, but D was already up, clutching onto Shava’s arm like it was a lifetime.
“What is wrong with you?”
I got up and crossed the cave. The noble was curled up into a ball, which didn’t surprise me. The full body tremoring however, did. I prodded the man hard, rolling him over to his back.
“Wake up. It is only a nightmare.”
I pushed him onto his back, and what I saw gave me flashbacksto over a year ago.
It was a nightmare, but not the kind I had imagined.
Blazing yellow eyes rolled back into his head, with gray skin that had flaked off into ashes on the surrounding ground.
His skin had been gray yesterday.
Had that been a sign the change was imminent? Was that thetruereason he’d been sent to the dragon, and not money, as he claimed? The implications were monumental: did the queen know her Nobles were cursed and was just killing them off as they showed signs of turning?
This was big. This could be the morsel to be held over her head in order to gain protection for myself, and power!
Assuming I survived, as the snarling demon-creature lunged straight for my face.
Shava screamed and raced toward the cave opening.
Not that I blamed her; I’d have done the same if the demon’s weight wasn’t pinning me to the ground as I strong-armed its face as hard as I could to keep its teeth away from my neck.
The mud boy didn’t cry or even look surprised to see a monster in his cave. He picked up one of the small stones lying around and threw it with perfect accuracy, nailing the demon in the eye.
It dropped me and whirled around, looking for its new target. I rolled and got my feet under me, sure to put distance between me and the creature. Not that it mattered, since it had sensed less feisty prey in D, cornering him and advancing as saliva dripped down its nasty fangs.
Indecision froze me. Did I use the creature’s distraction with D to make an escape like Shava had, or did I fight it off? Then again, what could I do against a monster? I certainly had done nothing last time; the Fireguards had killed it! I was stronger and more resilient now because ofmy rituals, but was under no delusion I could win a one-on-one fight with a demon. And yet …
