Page 33 of Captured By the Scaled Outlaw
The bolt snaps into place, the string drawn. I lift the bow, keeping locked onto the Orageist Giant. It will lose interest and return to eating if I let up or miss. Giants are quick to anger and quick to forget, their intelligence and short-term memory lacking while favoring size and strength.
Lowell lifts his hand to signal that we’ve crossed marker one of five —the shortest distance from our goal. As if prompted by our first success, the Giant slows down, its attention caught on a nearby bush at the mountain base.
It lowers its two front legs when eating. Predictable.
I exhale, releasing a bolt that embeds between the Giant’s joints. With another scream, it shifts its attention back to us.
Lowell pats the small of my back with his hand. While it’s not a signal we discussed, I take it as “good job.” I’m grateful he can’t see the silly grin on my face at his approval.
We drive until we pass markers two and three, only four of my six shots missing. Each time I hit the target successfully, Lowell rewards me with an excited-yet-gentle pat. When I make a shot on the first try while rounding the bend of marker four, I audibly giggle as Lowell pats my back with such vigor, he almost knocks me off the sandcycle.
Marker five pokes out of the sand from a distance, a straight path leading us to our goal. Relief fills my chest at the sight, my hands trembling so badly I struggle to load the last bolt.
We’re going to do it. Thank the Goddess,I think, setting the Orageist Giant in my line of sight.
One more bolt, one last shot, will bring me closer to my life back in Nilsan. Back to a life of structure and sensible demands, far away from the anarchy of Gaia 4.Back to where I belong.
Almost there.
I lock the Giant in my crosshairs, ready to pull the trigger.
Suddenly, Lowell throws the “danger” hand-signal, my heart dropping into my stomach. Before I have a moment to observe the surroundings, sand kicks up around us, and my vision is obscured by wind and debris.
I twist at the hip to find the culprit, the Giant’s shadow the only visible shape in a sea of swirling sand. We are slowly becoming swallowed up in pitch darkness, sand pelting my eyes and mouth.I look over my shoulder at Lowell, whose hands have released the cycle’s handlebars.
“What are you doing?!” I scream, the sandcycle wobbling beneath us. I lose my footing quickly, my feet slipping out from underneath.
I’m falling.
My feet do not touch the ground. My head is beneath my body as I freefall with no sense of direction. I see and hear nothing other than the sound of the cycle’s treads spinning sand and the Orageist Giant’s thundering footsteps.
I’m hit by a sudden force — a punch, maybe — to the side of my waist that radiates pain through every muscle.
In a matter of seconds, I lose consciousness.
Chapter 13
My eyes open to dim light. Pressure pounds at my temples and my muscles twinge with a dull ache. I quickly realize I don’t recognize my surroundings, and my last memories lend no clue to my current whereabouts.
I try to move but am blocked by a wall. Blinking away the crust from the corners of my eyes, I see clearly. It’s not a wall that keeps me caged, but Lowell.
“Goddess, I was worried you were dead,” he grumbles with a sigh, holding a piece of cloth torn from his pants above his left eye.
We are in our tents, well,oneof our tents, crammed together side-by-side. I’m squished into one of the walls by Lowell’s large body, only a thin blanket separating us.
“What’s going on? What the hell happened?” I ask, scrambling to sit up. I scan the confined shelter, spotting a med kit that has been opened and rummaged through. Near it, a small bundle of food is tucked into the furthest corner.
My heart leaps at the sight of my crossbow as it sits propped up against the tent door. I sigh with relief.
Lowell follows my gaze, hissing each time he blots his forehead. He looks down at the cloth, grimacing at what he sees. “The Orageist Giant kicked up a sandstorm. I saw it coming when the Sandpits started coiling counterclockwise.” I must be giving him a strange look, becausehe quickly adds, “When I first started relocating Sandpits, I noticed they would coil counterclockwise instead of their usual clockwise position each time there was about to be a sandstorm. It only took a few times for me to realize it wasn’t a coincidence.” He laughs, but there is no humor in his tone. “So, from what you’ve told me about the Giant’s ‘rumored’ weather abilities and what I know about the Sandpits, I knew what to expect when a massive dust cloud whipped past marker five.”
My eyes widen. “Wait, there were Sandpits? By marker five?” I beam, smiling despite the knot in my stomach.
Lowell matches my smile, unrestrained with white fangs gleaming in the lamplight. “Yeah, I guess more were hiding around the pass. They must have followed the Giant past marker five, too.”
My cheeks hurt from the wideness of my grin. “So they gotpastmarker five?”
“Sure did,” he says, eyes softening.
