If he gets her into the water, I will lose them. I will lose her. Unless…
He does not know that I know where his clan’s nests are.
The Boa’s territory resides on the scattered mountains north and east of here. Pressing forward as the shadows lengthen around me, I wind for the same forested, half-ruined road I traveled with Julia this morning.If he hurts her…
I will do anything to stop that from happening. Anything. I have saved others. I can save her too.
I have to. I must.
I do not know if I can survive another loss.
TWENTY-SIX
WILD BERRIES
Julia
Nestledin the large arms of someone I can’t quite remember, I’m aware that I’m being carried but not of much else. I only know that shadows and shapes are passing me by and I feel like I’m higher than the sky. My world tumbles in and out, and as the minutes slink onward they weave in with the hours, muddying my sense of time.
Gradually my awareness extends to the terrible pain in my mouth and throat, to the burning sensation in the back of my nose and to the tips of my limbs where a prickling has taken over the numbness. My head lolls to the side and I try to open my eyes only to wince.
“Do not try to move. We are almost there.”
Almost there?
Almost where?
I don’t recognize the voice, just that I’ve heard it before. Peeking my eyes open, my sight blurs with tears, mixing with the shifting darkness all around. I quickly shut them again, losing myself briefly, feeling like I’m spinning away.
I wake up again when I’m suddenly submerged in cold water. Though I thrash wildly, two strong arms hold me tight as they push me further under. I open my mouth to scream and end up sucking it down too.
Abruptly pulled out, I sputter and cough, shouting out a curse as I struggle against the large body keeping me captive. “Calm down. It issss over.”
That voice again.
The Boa!
Feeling the watersloshacross my skin, I peel my eyelids open and look around frantically, finding it’s very much nighttime and I’m still in motion. Water extends to either side of me.I must be in the river. The Boa is kidnapping me!
“Let me go!” I shout and immediately flinch, regretting the words as my throat erupts with fire. Clutching the front of my neck with one hand while pushing at the Boa with the other, I try screaming again anyway.
He dunks me under the surface with a growl.
When I come back up, it’s with an angry gasp. I reach for my rifle but of course it’s gone. I fling my fists at the Boa’s chest and push at him harder. “Release me!”
He barely reacts. Instead he shifts me in his hold and throws me over his shoulder. Suddenly dangling upside down, I pound at his backside with my fists while kicking my feet. “Let me go!”
“Enough, female, you will not escape.”
“You… don’t… know that…” I croak, hitting him harder.
“I am much bigger than you.”
I don’t grace him with a response, instead kicking out my legs until I’m half-unconscious and out of breath. Giving up, I can’t help but begin to agree with him. Heismuch bigger than me.
But he’s taking me away, farther from the encampment… Farther from Krellix.
Trying not to panic, I peer around me to see where we are. My eyes burn as I squint at the moonlit shapes passing us by, but I can tell we’re still within or at least traveling along the river. I hear its watery flow between my ragged breaths.
