Shadow's Dangers (42 page)

Travis’s brother laughed and his mother glared at him. She turned to me, hatred written all over her face.

“There's no way to give her a quick death,” she told Travis, without letting go of my gaze. “This girl is the reason why your father and others are dead. She must pay for all this bloodshed. The best way to have our revenge is to ensure an agonizing death for her, and that her devoted protector understand what she has endured when he discovers her corpse. I want her to suffer and for him to be haunted by guilt.”

She marked a pause before adding:  “Look at the positive side of things, my dear. With us, your fate will be far less terrible than the one you'd have had at the hands of Zermaae. He wouldn't have killed you. No, he would have made something far worse of you.”

I didn't have the presence of mind to ask myself who this mysterious
Enimae
was. All that I managed to remember was that I would die soon. These monsters would make me suffer like never before and Garreth would know everything of my agony. Despite my desire to escape, my body, traitor that it was, refused to obey me. I couldn't do anything else other than wait until the end.

“What are you talking about? Have you gone mad? Zermaae? He ceased to exist...”

Travis was unable to finish, the hand of his mother slapped him violently. The force of the blow made his head go to the side. When I could see his face again, I noticed she had literally slashed his cheek with her nails. Lord, if she beat her own son like that, I didn't dare imagine what awaited me...

“Unworthy son!” she spat with disgust before slapping him again. “How dare you talk to me like that? How dare you question what I say? He's alive. But how would you know? You're not one of us! You never understood anything about the way we live! You are a parasite! I should have let your father kill you when you deserted us after we left
Jagnae Brae
to join
Jagnae Grakmae
!

My eyes were on Travis while I was searched for the meaning of these two terms. The first was the name of the community Garreth, Leighton and Travis belonged, I remembered. The second, I had never heard, but I assumed it had something to do with the rebellion. Thus, Travis had first joined the insurgents to follow his family. Surely more out of obligation than choice, since there was no feeling of love among members of this family. I wondered why he went back to the community. Certainly the reason that pushed Garreth to save him, too. Further proof that despite everything, there was something good in him. As if I needed to be aware of that in such a moment.

“I think that it would do honor to the memory of Father to kill him today,” Travis’ brother said, a cruel grin on his face before turning to their mother. “What do you think?”

She smiled coldly. There was satisfaction in her eyes. No doubt she was proud of the only “worthy” son she had. For a few moments, I forgot my resentment for Travis. I was horrified at the thought that his crazy family was jubilant at the idea of killing him, shedding his blood. Annabelle hated me, certainly, but not enough to go to such extremes.

“I guess it's only fair. After all, it wasn’t Garreth, but I who killed Father when he attacked...” he pointed at me with a vague gesture of his head, “her and her family.”

My eyes briefly met those of Travis. When Leighton had removed my mental barriers, the image of Garreth had appeared very clearly to me, but that of Leighton and people who were also there came to me a little blurry. In any case, I was sure no one had hinted at the presence of Travis and I had no memory of him. So why did he say that? I couldn’t read his expression as he hid his emotions behind a solid wall.

I didn't have time to follow my thoughts because everything happened so quickly, then. Travis’ mother uttered a monstrous cry of rage and the next second, his brother rushed at him without warning. He looked like a bloodthirsty beast, his face contorted with hatred and insanity while he kept Travis pinned to the ground and beat him continuously. Travis finally responded by hitting him with a phenomenal headbutt, which threw his brother backwards, his weight disappearing from him. Travis didn't wait for his brother to pull himself together. He jumped on him and made him pay for every blow he had received. Completely lost in his want for revenge, Travis didn't see his mother coming, her hand holding something long, silvery and shiny.
A dagger!

“Travis! Behind you!” I cried without knowing how or why I did it.

Totally stunned, Travis turned his attention to me. A few seconds later, his expression became hard and merciless again. He rose nimbly before grabbing his brother by his shirt and throwing him up in the air, several meters away. I didn't have time to digest what he had done because all eyes were on me, suddenly. What was going on? Were they going to kill me now? Then I noticed that Travis’ mother was frozen, shocked, like all the other insurgents. I was completely lost.

“A chimera maker...How is that...Is she one?” she asked, her incredulous eyes on me.

“No, it's me,” Travis said before taking off toward his mother.

They began to fight with the same ferocity, eager to get rid of each other. It was even more scary when you considered they were mother and son. Travis managed to make her drop her dagger and with his chimera maker's gift, he created a weapon out of nowhere. He stabbed his mother in the stomach, in the heart and cut her throat, leaving her body to fall to the ground. She was shaking by convulsions, the sign that she was still alive despite the huge amount of blood she had already lost. I couldn't restrain a cry of horror. I was definitely in the most terrible nightmare ever.

Then the awful noise I had heard when I discovered the insurgents sounded. It was coming from the huge thing that seemed to be hiding in the shadows when I came here and that I had secretly hoped to be only a figment of my imagination. When an underground rumbling, reaching a crescendo was heard, the ground began to tremble under my feet. The images of my dream came back to me and I suddenly realized that it was a sort of prophetic dream, as crazy as it might seem.

“What are you waiting for? Run!” Travis exclaimed, taking me out of my trance.

Even though I knew he hadn't done all this for me, I couldn't help but send him a simple nod, my way of thanking him for allowing me to escape. He returned it before he rushed in the direction of the remaining insurgents. I began to run to escape this horrible place that would soon look like a real battlefield given the screams echoing in the woods.

As I ran out of breath, something yelled not far from me. As I got closer, I recognized the silhouette of the feline beast and its long horns on which Travis had me traveling so far, the same one that I saw in my nightmare.
That's the thing that shocked all the insurgents and made them think I was a chimera maker.
Travis used his gift to make the beast reappear so I could escape...
I felt grateful to him for a handful of seconds. The creature laid down and I hurried to get onto it. Once I was in place, its horns became flexible and moved to wrap around my waist before returning as solid as stone. Suddenly, the earth began to tremble and a noise like an explosion was heard behind us, where I had left Travis. I threw a glance there and immediately regretted it. I had seen something similar in the book that Leighton brought me: the giant snake with three sharp fins. However, this one was different. In particular, its head resembled that of a crocodile. The weak sunlight reflected off its skin looking like metal and unlike the beast of the book, it hadn't just three, but ten fins, starting from its head and extending to the end of its body. They resembled a serrated edge of a circular saw. As if the beast had perceived my thoughts or my terror, his ruby eyes fell upon me.

The horned-feline hadn't moved yet, probably waiting for my order.

“Go!” I urged.

He immediately sped through the forest. Behind us, a mighty roar rose above all others. Adrenaline surged through me as soon as I grasped the meaning of the scream: the monster was hunting us down. The creature ran at breakneck speed without being able to outrun the giant metal snake that was closing in. It had plunged itself into the ground to catch up faster, the underground rumbling becoming more and more powerful as it approached us.

“Faster...” my mind told me, but I was silent, a sense of déjà vu hitting me. I had uttered these words in my nightmare and terror won over my whole being when I remembered the end of it. I didn't want to end up shredded by this monstrous beast.

“Faster!” I cried aloud in despair.

The feline did his best to accelerate, but in vain. I had no time to let myself be overwhelmed by fear as a noise like an explosion rang out and the next moment, the horned-beast and I spectacularly sky-glided. I landed on the hard ground with such force that my breath was knocked out of me. Somewhat stunned, I looked around to spot the monster. However, it was nowhere to be found.

Blood-curdling screams echoed in the dead silence of the forest. My stomach sank as I realized it was the horned-creature, the metal monster putting him to death. Tears came to my eyes thinking of this animal--even if it wasn't real--who had tried to help me and was now paying the price.

A particularly heart-rending cry of the beast was the shock I needed to react. I would be the next victim of the snake if I didn't escape.

Gathering my wits, I got up and resumed my race to stay alive. In the distance, I heard the cries of Travis and the insurgents. I doubled my efforts, eager to get out of the forest as soon as possible. If I found a road and a car passed at that moment, then I might be saved. Except that the more meters I traveled, the weaker I felt. Nauseous even. The idea that I had perhaps a wound to the head because of my fall came to mind. I may have lost a lot of blood. I guessed that I would soon faint...and never wake up because I'd be dead, the snake having killed me. I had to find someone or something to help me and fast! As if to confirm my thoughts, the ground began to shake, indicating that the giant snake was back on my track. I forced my body to use all the energy it had left.

I tripped over roots and fell to the ground. The deafening sound of the beast coming out of the earth was heard and I knew at that moment that it was over for me. I just had time to put myself on my back to see my assailant. Weak lights filtering through the foliage of spruce helped me see the  full monstrosity of this huge snake made of a metal-like substance.

At its ruby eyes spied me, I knew I was going to suffer. Long. Atrociously.

Desperate, I kicked it with all my strength in the jaw. It made a terrifying sound, a sign of its rage, but not of its suffering. While I tried to kneel, the giant snake's mouth closed over my left leg. The searing pain made me scream like I never had before. I collapsed on the ground again, the fangs of the beast still lodged in my flesh. Thousands of blades seemed to be in my skin, grinding my bones without meeting any resistance. The pain quickly grew unbearable.

The monster suddenly let go of my leg. That instant, I thought I still had a chance. My survival instinct animating me again, I tried to drag myself by the sheer force of my arms. But that was a utopia and I understood it very quickly when the serpent emitted a horrible sound that made the beating of my heart increase. Knowing it was going to attack me again, I crawled to the first large branch that I saw. At the very moment my fingers closed on the piece of wood, the fangs of the beast dug into my one good leg. I screamed in pain. Despite the intense suffering, I had the presence of mind to use my makeshift weapon against the monster. When the animal dragged me across the ground with its grip on my leg, I raised my arms and stabbed the branch into its neck. The beast let out a cry of pain before throwing me several meters away. I hit a tree trunk and fell to the ground, unable to get up on my legs this time.

The snake didn't stop there. Furious, he soon attacked again. I screamed like never before when his fangs went through my hip, my flesh and bone tearing. Increasingly powerful screams were wrought from me as the beast inflicted the most damage possible and my blood flowed in streams.

Then, slowly, too slowly, the pain disappeared and everything turned to confusion. My view wasn't clear anymore, ranging from moments of sharpness to blurring, and different sounds mingled to the point that I no longer knew who was screaming, me or the snake.

The last thing my eyes distinguished was the red stained mouth of the giant snake. It had turned into a kind of victorious grin. I knew therefore who was behind this appearance: Travis’ brother. He wore the expression of the winner of a battle--the war, in this case. Strangely, the thought made familiar faces resurface as well as two words “not vain” that I didn't understand. Unable to stand it any longer, my eyes closed and I fell unconscious. Or maybe this was death...

19

On the Verge of Death

With pain, my eyes opened to the world. All around me was chaos. Screaming, suffering and despair. People were talking, but I wasn't able to concentrate on them or their voices. My mind could only focus on my slow agony and my desire that it stop quickly, regardless of the method.

“Ki-- me.”

I couldn't say more, my voice failing me.

“What?”

“Kill...” I repeated with difficulty.

Although I was unable to finish my sentence, my plea was obvious: I wanted to die. Travis’ brother or the insurgents who accompanied him had to put an end to my ordeal. They had tortured me enough. Why didn't they finish me?

“You want us to...” someone started, but couldn't finish his sentence, emitting a strange sound instead.

There was a moment of silence during which I prayed for my torturers to have mercy and stop all this. But nothing came.

“You have to do something! She's in agony! She's gonna die!” There was a noise, a cry midway between despair and frustration. “
Please
, I need you to do something,” the same voice begged.

“I don't know what else to do, Garreth. I made tourniquets and compresses, but she’s lost a lot of blood. Too much blood...and she keeps losing more because one of her ribs has punctured a lung. The reinforcements sent by the community will be here soon and Darnell will be a part of them, but I'm afraid he can't do much. It will be too late...”