Page 15 of The Naga Scavenger’s Precious Mate

He was monstrous and horrible to look at, like something from a nightmare or a creepy old movie. It was wrong and it shouldn’t exist; it made all my senses rebel in fear. The bat nearly slipped from my numb hands as I shuffled back and bumped into the shelf behind me. I needed to flee. I should have never gone back here to take a look. Wasn’t that what got the silly blondes in horror movies killed?

I thought Buzz had abandoned me, but he suddenly dove down from above, screeching. Claws outstretched, he gauged the robot thing’s face. It jolted me into action, and my grip around the bat tightened as I raised it for a swing. The robot emitted a sharp metallic whining noise, his arm shooting up as he batted Buzz away.

The little dragon went cartwheeling through the air from the blow, then clattered against a nearby shelf. Things tumbled to the ground, and while that robot’s red glare was focused on the noise, I struck. My bat hit him square in his damaged chest. The blow reverberated up my arms, my fingers went numb, and I fumbled as the bat nearly wrenched from my hands. In contrast, it didn’t even seem like the robot noticed; it still kept its gaze on Buzz, who was hidden somewhere in the clutter that remained on the shelf.

My poor little friend, I hoped he was alright. He had only just recovered from a broken wing and now this? Why was this thing even here? What did it want from me? My arms felt like lead as I forced myself to raise the bat for a second hit, but the adrenaline wasn’t enough to make my exhausted, still-recovering body obey.

When the robot thing turned to me, its long and damaged tail coiling and writhing as it moved, I turned and dove for the shelves that Buzz had disappeared into. I found him tangled in a basket of cables and pulled him free, then I forced my shaking legs into a sprint back toward the campfire. Zeidon had told me never to leave this room, but I was certain that anything was better than sticking around right now.

I never got that far. The robot’s tail suddenly looped around my legs mid-stride and I went down in a pile. I curled myself around Buzz’s tiny body to protect him and impacted hard with the stone floor with my shoulder and hip. The tail tightened around my legs and pulled me back into the darkness.

The scream that ripped from me was all instinct and fear, I was barely aware I was doing it. I clung to the unconscious little dragon, scared that he was dead, and clawed with my free hand for any handhold. Escape seemed impossible; it was inevitable that my strength would fail me. My still-weak body was not up to this fight.

He reeled me in like it was nothing. His body smelled like a machine, with something that reminded me of gasoline. The strips of fake skin that clung to his frame made me squirm, its texture threatening me with nausea from how disgusting it felt. My mind flashed with images of zombie movies, and with the rotting, wandering corpses of the living dead that it reminded me of.

Then he raised me into his arms and I felt the metal parts of his chest press against me, his arms like bands around my body. There were noises coming from him, words, but I could not understand what he was saying. What I did know, was that I would never see daylight again when he started to zigzag around the shelves to head deeper into the cave system.

“Zeidon!” I screamed over his shoulder, my fist futilely banging against the metal frame that caged me. He moved sinuously and smoothly now that he had me as he headed with single-minded purpose back the way he’d come. “Zeidon!”

I thought it was my mind playing tricks on me when I heard my name echoed back; Zeidon’s voice shouting as frantically as I was. The robot wasn’t hurting me now that he had me in his grip, I could only imagine what he wanted to do. If Zeidon didn’t come back now… I pictured him dashing through the door to save me. I pictured the robot tying me down to a lab table for scary dissections or creepy experiments.

“Farah!” Zeidon’s voice echoed against the cavern walls this time, loud enough that I jerked against the robot. I could raise my head just enough to glance over his shoulder and like I’d just imagined, Zeidon came barreling through the door with his trident in hand. He didn’t even go around the shelves as he chased after me, knocking through them like he did not even see the obstacles.

I had never been as happy to see anyone as I was then. Zeidon would kick this thing’s ass and all would be well. His presence gave me renewed strength and I looked down at the arms that held me to figure out how I could slip their grip. Maybe if I threw myself forward, I’d topple out. He was carrying me bridal-style, it could work.

We passed around a final shelf and there it was, a doorway. Baskets and crates had been pushed aside haphazardly to clear the opening and cool, damp air came blowing in from the dark hole. It was now or never. I threw myself forward, hoping to aim for a collection of baskets with what looked like pelts and furs.

As I tumbled, I clutched Buzz as tightly to me as I dared to protect him from harm. I collided hard with the baskets which were definitely not filled entirely with soft furs. Aching all over, I had no time to curse or moan. The robot was already after me again, moving so fast that I could barely anticipate what he was about to do.

Arms outstretched, his laser eye focused on me, but his tail coiled in a wave behind him just as Zeidon threw himself on top of it with a rage-filled growl. That moment etched itself into my brain for all time: the sight of Zeidon attacking, his fangs bared, all his markings lit up like the fourth of July, and the vicious growl that echoed through the cave.

He collided with the robot’s rapidly moving tail and then things became utter chaos. There was a whirring, like that of an electrical saw, blood flew in every direction, and Zeidon flew back. The robot hissed and growled some kind of warning, and a scream rippled from me again. I hated the useless response and tried to make myself move, but the arms reaching for me were just too fast.

I was thrown over a shoulder this time, my legs pinned to his rib cage. We raced into the dark, but I still had the longest, most horrible view of Zeidon’s sprawled-out, broken body. There was blood everywhere, seeping from so many tears and gashes that I was certain he was dead.

He wasn’t moving at first, but as we started to put distance between us, I saw him raise his head. Our eyes locked, and one of his hands reached for me, then he collapsed again. No! No, that couldn’t be the end. I couldn’t have lost the one guy who was nice around here, my friend, my caretaker. He couldn’t be dead.

The pain and fear that struck me were so profound that I knew he had already come to mean so much more to me in such a short time. I didn’t even care about where the robot was taking me. All I wanted was for Zeidon to get up and blink those beautiful emerald eyes my way. I wanted him to growl husky things at me, and grab the back of my head so he could kiss me.

Then Buzz fluttered one of his wings in my hands and I tilted my head down to focus on him. The darkness swallowed the entrance and my view of the green Naga. I could only see by the white light emanating from my captor. “Buzz, please tell me that at least you’ll be alright?” I whispered hoarsely. What I was really asking the tiny dragon was if Zeidon lived, but those words could not cross my clenched throat.

Chapter 11

Zeidon

Srazz was licking my face when I woke up, his rough tongue scraping along the fine scales along my cheek. Something was dribbling into my eye, and the other eye wouldn’t open no matter how hard I tried. His snout was the first thing I saw and while this was a very familiar sight, it struck me with utter panic today. I tried to raise my hand to push him away and couldn’t seem to muster the strength to lift my limb.

“I’m awake, Srazz. Stop it…” I moaned when he licked a spot on my face and pain flared to life. Like a cascade effect, that one spot seemed to waken all of my nerves and pain washed like a tidal wave across my body. Wounds dotted my flesh from top to bottom, and even without looking I knew that the damage was bad, really bad.

My friend raised his snout and made a growling noise, uttering his discontent at the situation. That was the least of my worries because I knew exactly how I’d gotten injured; a revenant had stolen my mate. I hissed, pain and anger coursing through me, a battle high giving me the strength to roll my head and raise it. I blinked my one good eye at the dark tunnel at the back of the cave, the passage through which they had disappeared.

I had to go after them, I had to rescue her before that thing killed her or harmed her. She should have been safe in here! I promised her that she was and I had failed her. Revenants only roamed the ranges beyond Bitter Storm’s mountains, how had this one gotten here? The thoughts about its bizarre presence were fleeting, they didn’t matter. All that mattered was that it was here and that it had stolen Farah from me.

Growling, I rolled myself to my belly. My left arm would not obey any of my commands, but the right flung forward and I gripped the ground with my claws to pull myself forward. I had to go after her, I had to save her. Farah could not come to harm, I would not let it.

Srazz howled in rage and threw his body in front of me, hissing and growling, spikes raised all over his rump in a threatening display. “Get out of the way,” I demanded furiously. He could not block my way, I had to go to Farah. I tried to push him aside with my hand but he dug in his claws and pushed back. “Move, please,” I begged, but my strength was flagging, my injuries sapping more from me with each minute that passed. I could not even move one obnoxious Ayala.

The thought shot through me with a flash of clarity. I could not move Srazz because I had been weakened that badly by my wounds. I could not recall a moment in my life when I had been injured worse than I had been now. My tail and chest were covered with lacerations, some plunging several inches deep, and all of them still trickling blood. Even my face had been struck by the damn revenant, leaving a slash across my right eye. That damage was bad; I knew because I could not make that eye work.