Page 52 of Of Serpents and Ruins
I renewed my struggles. My hands scraped on the stone. Sharp pain bit along my palms, but I pressed harder. My tongue still wouldn't work.
The Gola Resh smirked. Her face was ever shifting, becoming something terrifying and ethereal. Skull-like and effervescent beauty. Shadows streamed around her face as she rose closer to me. "What happened to your voice, little seer?" She blinked her eyes slowly, her smile cruel and cloying. "Did something happen to you? Oh, whatever will you do?"
I struggled to swallow. Her eyes burned into me.
"Your devoted Master of Sight has tried so hard to keep me out, but not one of you fully understands what you're dealing with. Especially not when I have grown into something even stronger than before. You are nothing but algae and bugs."
Sometimes, bugs were deadly.
Anger flashed through the fear. "Let go of me," I said, struggling to regain control of myself. The heat of my ire strengthened me even as the fear fought to paralyze me.
A low laugh followed. "Are you afraid, scum girl? Don't worry. I'm not here to kill you. I wouldn't dream of sparing your beloved that fate unless I could assure myself of something far more horrifying, though your death is tempting. You have no idea what you stand over."
A shadow-like claw appeared over me, seized me, and dragged me forward.
My voice eked out of me in a strangled cry.
I dug my palms harder into the stone. The rocks gouged deeply.
"Your death wouldn't really soothe me. You are such a stupid girl, but you do feel," the Gola Resh whispered, her voice tickling my ear and worming into my brain. "Perhaps I will offer you a way out."
She waited for half a beat as if to let her words sink in. The smirk spread over her shadowy features, the smoke around her undulating and transforming and making her always changing.
"I can be reasonable." Her shadow claws raked along my cheek, stinging though they did not cut. "Now that the Babadon is dead, there is really only one thing I want. If you can give it to me, I'll give you your life."
"What?" I gasped. What would it take? And would it end both curses? "Will you free Sepeazia from your curse?"
The Gola Resh just laughed. "No, but I'll spare you and one person you love if you give me what I want. Oh, come now…youcan figure this out. Think hard. What did you take from me, you tedious little disease?"
"I didn't take anything from you." The words scraped out of my throat.
It took all my strength to hold myself up. She wasn't even touching me, yet the force that gripped me was unrelenting.
My foot slipped. I jammed my hand against the coarse rock of the inner well, cutting my palm. The wall dug into my stomach as I struggled to keep from falling in.
The Gola Resh laughed, her voice becoming darker and more metallic as it thrummed through the air. "But you did. Even if it could be undone, what you did… You vicious little seer, I will never forgive you unless you know my pain. You didn't hold the blade, but you called the place. I have thought about it long and hard and changed my mind so many times, so who knows? By the time you figure it out, maybe I'll have changed my mind again." Her eyes narrowed, becoming more sinister. "I doubt it."
Bits of stone grated beneath my palms. It trickled down into the well, disappearing in the mist. "What do you want? Just tell me!" I shoved my knee against the rock.
She rose, the smoke and mist bitter and acrid as she circled me. "In the end, just one thing," she hissed. "Your suffering. It could take so many forms. As long as I get the most suffering from your wretched life that I can, I can fade, happy."
The shadow-like claw appeared over my head as she spoke. It sliced through the air, striking the back of my head, tangling in my hair, and hauling me down.
"No!"
I flung my arm out to stop myself, but I tipped forward and plunged down into the maw of the well. Blue light and white smoke swept up around me, filling my nostrils. Screaming, I flailed my arms.
Down, down, down, I plummeted into the well, the Gola Resh's laughter echoing around me. I flung my arms out desperately, my palms grating and scraping over the rough rock.
Icy water slammed up around me, swallowing me. The air cracked out of my lungs as frigid liquid rushed into my nose and mouth.
Frozen.
Immobile.
Move. Kick! Swim!
Anything!
