Page 16 of The Naga Scavenger’s Precious Mate

When I stopped attempting to move my stubborn pet, he scuttled closer and started licking my cheek again. He made soft, keening noises that drove home how worried he was about me. I was in no state to go after the revenant. I had not defeated it because of its surprise attack, and now I could not defeat it because I was too weak. “Farah,” I moaned, desperation filling me. There was only one option left to me, find help.

Though it felt wrong, I forced my body to curl away from the tunnel and toward the exit. Getting out of this ancestral cave took me long, laborious minutes. Srazz tried to help me, nudging me along with his body, and making encouraging chirping noises. That he was being that friendly drove home just how bad I looked, Srazz was never this sweet to me.

The sunshine outside hit me hard, striking my wounds with heat, the grass beneath me felt like blades against my flesh, cutting me up further. I could not stop, or I would never make it. There was only one option, one choice. I had to save Farah, and for that, I had to reach Outcast Haven. A two-hour journey when I was in good shape. Now? I did not know if I would even make it halfway.

The water was my only hope, so I focused my depleting strength and headed that way. When I reached the closest stream, Srazz did not make his usual complaining noises but followed me in. Proving he was a strong swimmer, despite his intense dislike for the water I so loved, he kept up with me as I let the currents carry me down the mountain. The water stung, but it washed my injuries clean, and the coolness eased the pain.

When the stream made a turn, I had to crawl out of the water or I risked going in the wrong direction. There was no direct waterway from my den to the camp of outcast Naga and their humans. I had to take my shortcuts where I could find them and crawl the rest of the way.

The sun was sinking behind the sharp peak of the mountain, taking away its heat and casting shadows over the land. I had no strength left for swimming and simply floated along the last stream I’d located, but crawling out was next to impossible. Srazz nudged me beneath my arm, then bit into the belt strapped around my hips and started pulling. My good hand bumped against a rock and I held on, panting through the pain as I dragged myself out.

I rolled onto my back, which was unscathed, and stared up at the twinkling stars. I wasn’t going to make it, my strength was gone, my body empty of any reserves. My thoughts filled with Farah, with her soft smiles, the sound of her laughter, and especially the sound of her moans. She was in danger right now, the prisoner of a deadly revenant, even if it was a small one of a type I’d never seen before.

Srazz made growling noises next to me, nudging my shoulder, then nipping at my hair. “I know,” I muttered, “I must keep going.” I didn’t know how. Above my head, the stars were spinning, but I could still tell that sunrise was painting its colors along the corners of the sky. Pressure filled my mind, and gray was seeping in around the edges. I was dying; too much blood loss, too many grave wounds. Soon, I’d pass out and then it was all over. There would be nobody to rescue my precious female, nobody who knew she needed help.

I growled, the sound rattling out of my chest so loudly that it sent a flock of birds into the air from where they were roosting in a tree. No! I could not fail Farah, I had to get up. There was no other option than to keep moving. If I gave up, it meant the end for her too. I had already put so much distance between her and me. My heart ached worse than my wounds at that thought.

Still growling, renewed purpose filling my veins, I rolled over and found the strength to crawl again. Srazz nudged his head beneath my arm and with his own little growls and snarls tried to lend me any strength he had to offer, pushing me forward, urging me on when I faltered. I could not have asked for a better friend in that dark moment. He refused to let me give up, I owed it to him, and to Farah, to do the same.

I could taste the smoke from the camp on my tongue now, I was close. “Srazz, find Ekkire,” I murmured. He did not need to be told twice, his short legs had never worked as fast as he dashed ahead. He knew Ekkire, even if the two had never lingered in one another’s presence for more than a few hours at a time. Ekkire always gave him scraps from his meals, a surefire way to make a lasting impression. My only fear was that my Clansmale had left the camp after I had, his restless wanderlust striking him after that dismal tour by the Bitter Storm male.

It was impossible to go any faster than a crawl and it felt like ages had passed for barely any progress at all. Violet was lightening the sky by the time the bushes parted ahead of me and Srazz came bolting out. He was followed, blessedly, by the familiar gleam of a male with green scales like my own. I could not raise my head high enough to focus on a face or any distinguishing marks, but his voice I recognized. Dawn had turned into morning, it had taken me all night to get this far.

“Damn it, Zeidon! What happened to you, my friend?” Ekkire demanded as he reached my side. Carrying a full-grown Naga male was nearly impossible by oneself. We were just too big, our long tails too much even for another of our kind. But he could drag me, and he didn’t pause a beat as he rolled my arm over his shoulder and yanked me forward.

“Is there any place you aren’t bleeding from?” he hissed as he pulled. “You’re lucky you’re so close.” I rolled my eyes, a wet laugh escaping my throat. I coughed, blood flying from my mouth with each rough exhalation. That was even worse than the damage to my eye, I had never known a male coughing blood to survive without the aid of a Shaman.

“I need help,” I said, ignoring my own injuries to get this most important message across. “My mate, she was taken. Please, can you rescue her?” I didn’t mean him in particular, though Ekkire would go now that I’d asked him. Anyone would do, preferably the entire camp. They would need a strong force to defeat the revenant.

Ekkire grunted in response, the sound tinged with his disbelief. He did not trust me when I said I had a mate, a mate who needed to be rescued. Then he yelped, “Your pet just bit me!” Srazz had not taken kindly to that sound, although he probably did not know why Ekkire mocked me.

The camp came into view through the trees, beyond it the long wall of rock that funneled toward Ahoshaga’s entrance was visible, as were the first logs of the palisade. So close, I could hang on for that. My message was delivered and I had no doubt that my Clansmale could follow my trail back to the Den, and then into the mountain to find Farah.

Our arrival at the aspirants’ camp created a huge commotion, but I paid no attention to the exclamations, nor to the many hands that reached out to lighten Ekkire’s load to help carry me to the gate. I was finally where I needed to be, even if it was the last place I wanted to be right now. Ekkire knew of my plea, but I needed to ask it of the ones in charge; they would take care of it.

The human sky beings came down the mountain with their males, tucked safely beneath arms the way I wished I could be holding my Farah right now. My eyes latched onto the azure blue scales of the former Thunder Rock male I knew to be Zathar. He was in charge, and when his bright blue eyes locked on my face, I begged “Please! My mate. She’s been stolen…”

When his eyes grew alarmed I knew he understood how dire the situation was. His expression grew determined, a nod coming my way that said enough. He was going to send people for Farah, she would not die alone, in the dark, the captive of a revenant. As long as they weren’t too late, that thought was too horrible to contemplate.

With my task complete, for now, my body finally gave out. This time, I did not fight it. I needed to sleep, to heal so I could go after the search party as soon as possible. Darkness claimed me, but my mind kept spinning, filled with horrible nightmares of what could be happening to my mate right now.

Chapter 12

Farah

My eyes burned and my throat ached from crying and screaming. It had done me no good; I felt like shit, and I was still trapped in the clutches of this disgusting flesh-covered robot. Its fake white scales were flaking off on my arms and it felt horrible and disgusting. The only thing working in its favor was that it smelled mostly like the engine of an old car, not rotting flesh, though it looked like that was what covered him.

“Please,” I begged hoarsely, “Where are we going? What do you want with me?” I had already asked it a million times to take me back to Zeidon, to turn around, or to let me go. It had responded to each of my questions with a short hissed retort, but I did not think it was being mean, it was just telling me it did not understand.

“He could be dead,” I said, my breathing shuddering with a suppressed sob as I voiced that thought. I could not picture Zeidon dead, he was so intense, so passionate and so very very sweet to me. I wanted him to be alive so badly, and something inside of me kept insisting that he would never go down that easily. He was a fighter, and he was a caretaker, he wouldn’t want to give up when I was in danger. I knew it.

The robot did not respond this time, its red eye focused on the hallway ahead with single-minded focus. The golden orb rolled down toward me, but that was all he did. Had I worn out a robot with my begging? I did not think that was possible.

We’d traveled through hallway after hallway, lit only by the lights on the machine’s body. They were straight and narrow, some of them dripping with water down the side in steady, maddening rhythms. Wherever we were, I kept thinking that there was a river nearby, I’d hear the sound of rushing water, but then it would fade again as our tunnel made a turn.

Buzz was curled against my chest, a warm, steadily breathing bundle. He did not move, and his previously broken wing was crooked once more. I feared for him, internal bleeding could get the best of my poor little friend, and even if he survived, what about his wing? Would he ever fly again?

We turned so suddenly from a dark hallway into a brightly lit room that my already aching eyes whited out. I squinted, trying to make sense of what I was seeing through my lashes, and then wished I hadn’t. There were tubs and vats, pipes with bubbling colorful liquids, and a long desk filled with all kinds of devices and materials. It was as if a mad professor's lab from hell had met a robotic zombie freak.