The Treasure Hunter's Lady (30 page)

“Just so happens that I do. I could use a hand if you're of a mind to come out for a few minutes.” He didn't like putting her in danger, but he felt confident she'd do anything he asked.

She sucked in a breath and he thought she was going to refuse. Her hand tightened on the Lighthouser. “What do you need me to do?”

“Wait 'til I get it good and distracted. When I have its attention, run as fast as you can. Find Maggard and Christensen.” He grinned, but his face felt stiff. “The plan you had to knock him upside the head is a good one. Do that.”

“What about you?”

He feigned surprise. “You come back and get me, woman. What did you think? I'd have you sail off without another thought about me?”

Doubt surfaced on her face. “It might take a while to find them.”

“Take your time. I'll be here. I promise.”

Uktena's girth shifted, digging a huge rut in the canyon floor.
Come out, little rabbit. Come and face your foe.

She grimaced. “I hate his voice. It makes me feel shivery and sick. While I'm off chasing hot air balloons, what will you do?”

“A little snake charming. Nothin' to it.” Unless he got caught between those massive jaws. Ten Horses' knife made him feel invincible, but he didn't harbor any illusions about immortality.

 “Please tell me the truth. Can you beat it?” She scooted up next to him on her belly, her face right next to his.

Abel let the smile slide from his mouth. He looked into her eyes and nodded. “I can beat it.”

“Well, then. What are we waiting for?” She gestured with her gun for him to exit the hole.

He laughed as a reckless sense of duty stole over him. And hoped against hope that he wasn't giving Uktena an easy dinner.

“You wait until it’s not paying any attention in this direction. Those other snakes are on it like weevils to bole.”

“Only because you asked. I'd never dash through a hoard of snakes for anyone else. Utter madness.” She gave him a smile that was both fierce and full of love.

“I know, darlin'.” Before he could change his mind, he stepped out into the sunlight again and into Uktena's sight.

What gives you the idea you will fare any better this time, rabbit?

“The knowledge that I'm not a big, ugly snake, that's what.”

The Serpent dipped its head, jaws spread wide. Abel raised the knife—or it raised his arm—and slashed the Horned Serpent's long black tongue from its mouth. Blood exploded from the wound, pouring down on Abel's head.

Unearthly screaming sent the snakes into a frenzy. The thick liquid obscured Abel's vision. His knees buckled as pain flared in his head, shoulder and chest. His grip on the knife slackened. He heard Romy scrambling behind him, heard her gasp and the sound of her feet skidding against the gravel.

“Run, dammit!” he urged through his clenched jaw.

She brushed by him when she went. Abel attempted to wipe blood from his face.

Make him drop the knife!
At Uktena's command snakes surged forward. Their master's thrashing kept some of them back, but plenty tried to surround Abel. He slashed at them, giving them reason to fear him and beheaded several—until his back was against the wall.

The noise all around him faded to a tolerable buzz. Uktena's moaning died into angry panting.

It was not a mortal blow, you fool.

“Didn’t need to be. It still weakened you. We both know it.”

Not as badly as it weakened you. With every passing second you're a step closer to death.

Uktena didn't wait for a reply. It snapped again, apparently not worried about the knife anymore. Abel jumped out of the way, throwing himself hard against Uktena's coiled body. The great snake turned its head as Abel scrambled up the slick scales, clinging to the spikes. Uktena coiled tighter, a moving path of death no mortal could run from. The Diamond flashed in the sun, blinding Abel. Coils surrounded him, pinning his free hand against his body, but he forced his knife hand high. Hard muscles bound him, squeezed his rib cage, his spine, his legs.

Now you pay.

The red scales in the seventh ring looked as velvety as rose petals. Less than a foot from Abel's knife, he could see Uktena's pulse vibrate the scales in a rhythmic pounding.

The air whooshed out of his lungs as the coils tightened. Several joints in his body popped as the Serpent wound around him. All of Abel’s appendages tingled as they protested the lack of blood and oxygen. The Horned Serpent's face loomed behind the spots clouding Abel's vision.

Your death will remind Ten Horses of his pride. One more lost soul to join his weeping for the Spirit Road and a god who will not answer to him.

Black spots blotted out the world. Abel’s wrist sagged and he barely maintained his hold on the knife. The pain from the wound on his palm and the invisible fangs of the tattoo on his chest faded to dull throb.

He wished he could find a way to tell Romy not to come back. Uktena would destroy the knife. Maggard couldn't defeat the Serpent without it. They were in more danger than they'd ever suspected. And he’d failed all of them.

Chapter Twenty-five

It was a wonder the stubborn man hadn't been killed off years ago without a woman to help him along. Of course, she'd had her share of dangerous incidents, but not once had a snake strangled Romy. She’d been hissed at and run off by them, yes, but never injured. She'd hidden when Abel stepped out to face Uktena the first time, but she'd never let him down when he needed her.

She'd stopped less than a hundred feet from the scene of destruction, hiding behind a boulder, concerned that Abel would need her. Her instinct had been right. Even at the distance, she could see the skin around Abel's mouth turning blue. Only the whites of his eyes showed and his head lolled in corpse-like fashion. By some miracle or other act of fate, he hadn't dropped the knife yet. The Serpent’s voice echoed in her head, sharp and dangerous, but she forced it away, concentrating on the gun in her hands.

Every fiber in Romy's body readied her for the shot to distract and wound Uktena. She brought the Lighthouser to eye level, stared down the barrel and lined up the sights. A drop of sweat rolled off her brow. She tried to recall what Papa had taught her about shooting. Don't jerk the trigger. Keep an eye on the target and have confidence that her prey would fall.

She brought the seventh ring into her sights and squeezed the trigger.

The gun gave off a faint click, but nothing happened. The Serpent didn't react in the least. Its bright gold eyes were still trained on Abel.

“Blast and damn!” Her fear that the pistol would fail had come to pass.

What did that leave her for weapons? Abel had the only one destined to kill the Horned Serpent. There wasn't so much as a stick to jab the damned beast in the eye with. She could fling rocks at him, but what good would it do?

Like it had a mind of its own, her hand crept toward the pocket where she kept the sling Abel had given her. She hadn't had the time to learn to use it properly. The village children had laughed at her sad attempts to hit the target they set up. She couldn't hit the snake. Couldn't hit an airship if it was directly in front of her.

But neither could she let Abel die.

The rock was in the cradle and the sling singing above her head before she knew she'd done anything more than leave her hiding place. Like a tiny meteor, the rock sailed through the air and hit Uktena squarely on its damaged snout. Its mouth was open, dripping a mess of congealing blood and saliva on Abel.

The Serpent's head whipped around and the coils loosened as its eyes scanned the canyon.

“Hey! Leave him alone!” A foolish demand if ever one had been uttered, but Romy's mind seemed to have been taken over by someone else. Someone slightly less witty, but braver than she.

The coils hitched tight again. Abel's body jerked in response.
This is most unusual, but I have stolen female souls before, though not in such direct fashion. And none so brave. I thought your kind hid in the shadows of your males.

“This one never went in for that, I'm afraid. Maybe I had some reservations about Abel's honesty and his intentions for your Diamond. Even about tracking you down by following the river, but never about facing you.”

You will not stop me where your man has failed. Like him and all the others before, you cannot stop the King of Serpents. You have not yet seen suffering.

Abel's hand moved. It tightened over the knife. Romy was careful not to look directly at him. She stepped forward, ignoring all the snakes surrounding her, watching with beady little eyes, their tongues flicking in and out. Uktena stretched toward her.

“Can't I?” she asked. “Perhaps I have new medicine, stronger medicine than Ten Horses had. Something so powerful it will reduce you to a handful of crumbling black dirt.”

Uktena's tail twitched. It shook its head, making the massive black horns bob. The Serpent unwound, sliding across the crowded space between them. Abel slumped against the shining scales, a snack forgotten by a curious child.

You're a witch? The ilk has not been seen for centuries. Not true witches.
It drew up, pupils narrowed.
Come, girl. Show me this powerful medicine. I may find another use for you.

Romy's mind raced. She floundered for words.

As I suspected, you talk like a proud warrior and show too little proof of any medicine, human.

She hid her hands behind her back, praying for Abel to move, to stab the Serpent, to do anything. “Believe what you will, Uktena Promise Breaker.”

He quailed at her words. The slim pupils widened in what she could only describe as horror.

You know nothing of the promise. Of the way things were when Mother Sun tormented her people.

“But I know you were beaten. Shamed in front of the very men who gave you life. And in your bitterness, you struck out at them. For that, you're as damned as they are,” she taunted.

A flash of bone white against scarlet drew her eyes away from the Serpent's gilded ones. Abel's hand sank beneath the scales. The knife cut them away like a skiff through smooth water. The sound of Uktena's exposed heart filled Romy's ears.

No!

Uktena's head swiveled, too late to stop Ten Horses' knife from plunging deep into the veiny mass of muscle that connected it to life. There wasn't time for Uktena to voice a protest. It thrashed, throwing Abel away from the colorful scales. The knife sailed through the air and landed near Romy's feet where the stone separated from the handle. Abel rolled onto his back and lay unmoving.

Between her and Uktena, the mass of snakes shook and squirmed. They tried to flee, sliding over each other, but they began to melt. Dark, gelatinous puddles formed where each one had been.

Uktena turned on Romy. Betrayal, pain and seething anger flashed in its eyes. The beast held her gaze, struggling weakly as its heartbeat lessened. Its teeth clacked as it worked its jaws. Muscles trembled under the scales. It attempted to move forward, but couldn’t seem to find the strength. Thick blood rolled down its body, dousing the thousands of colors in liquid as dark as an oil slick.

She prayed for the end, hating to see anything suffer, even if it was villainous snake. The scales faded from a brilliant rainbow into gray. Its eyes were the last thing to change as the life drained out of it. Only the Diamond, sparkling brighter than ever, had any color. The sinuous muscles turned hard and disintegrated into an ashy substance. Black blood sank into the thirsty ground, leaving the Diamond as the only trace of the snakes and their master.

The sound of Abel coughing brought her out of her horrified enchantment. He crouched on his hands and knees, hair in his face. A desperate need to touch him washed over her. She knelt in front of him and waited while he caught his breath. He looked up, his face as sickly as Uktena's in the final moments.

He sat back on his heels and used one hand to brace himself. She grasped his shoulders to steady him.

“Do you feel any different? Is the poison still in you? For the love of God, Abel, answer me! Or at least help me figure out what to do with that Diamond to help you.”

He flashed a weak grin. Some of the color came back into his face. “Where's that hot air balloon you promised me?”

“I—” She glanced at the jewel, then back at him. “I didn't go for it. You needed help. Just like I told you all along.”

He gathered her in his arms. “All right, I'll give you that one. You saved my life.”

“I'd do it again.” She buried her face against his shirt, mindless of the black sludge splattered across it. “A hundred times if you needed it.”

They sat that way for several minutes, barely moving as they enjoyed the relief. Finally he let her go and plucked at the button front of his shirt until she batted his hand away and unfastened them for herself. For a moment, neither of them pushed the shirt back. They locked eyes and she saw the masked fear in his.

“We have the Diamond. Everything is going to be okay now,” she whispered. “Don't be afraid.”

“I'm not.” All the worry vanished from his face. “Not anymore.”

She swept the material aside, baring his chest and shoulders to the sunlight. He would have looked perfect if not for a few smudges of grime on his sun-kissed skin.

“I never even touched the Diamond.” There was awe in his voice.

“Do you think this means Papa and your uncle are all right too?” She was almost afraid to ask, but she couldn't help the hope that fought its way to the surface.

“There's only one way to find out.” He rose to his feet, standing taller than he had since she'd first met him. The picture of health.

Romy threw her arms around him, kissed his dusty face despite the muck on it. “Thank God you're all right. For a while I thought I'd talked too much, that it had choked the life right out of you. I love you, Abel. I don't think I could stand it if you’d died.”

His arms circled her waist and he lifted her off the ground a few inches. “I love you too.”