"Come on!" Zasian called. "This way!"
Vhok spotted the priest just ahead of him, charging toward an undercut beneath a large boulder. The efreet still fired their magical rays, and the cambion needed no encouragement to follow the human.
Vhok ducked into a shallow hiding place and crumpled down beside Zasian. Both of them gasped, in pain and out of breath.
"We can't tarry," the priest said, ducking his head out for a quick glimpse. "They're already coming over the wall."
"No time to see if she made it?" Vhok asked. "How can we pass through the portal unless we know?"
Zasian give the half-fiend a hard stare. "What other choice do we have?" he asked. "All we've fought for-all we've struggled against-has been to put us in this position. Do you fear to take the final step now?"
Vhok sucked in air. "No," he said after only a moment's hesitation. "She'll be there."
Zasian nodded. "Then let's go. It rests at the far end of this enclosure. If we can reach it, they won't follow." The priest risked another quick glance, ducked back in when a singeing blast smacked against the rock near his head, then said, "Now!"
Together, Vhok and his companion rushed from their shelter. The shouts of pursuing efreet followed them, but they did not slow down. Racing from cover to cover, the pair charged through the undergrowth, using the environment to shield them from their pursuers. Vhok felt the hot burning of a ray strike his back, and he nearly lost his footing as the searing pain overwhelmed him, but he managed to stay upright.
The shouts of the chase never wavered.
All at once, as the two of them raced around a jagged spire of rock, Zasian slowed. Vhok nearly collided with the priest, but he veered to one side just in time. The cambion stared where his companion did. At first, he couldn't see what Zasian had spotted, but then it became clear to him, and he gasped.
A gargantuan serpentine body lay unmoving, coiled around a great chunk of basalt as big as a house that thrust up from the floor of the courtyard only a few paces away. The creature's scales glimmered purple-blue in the orange light of the sky. Vhok could see no sign of a head. He assumed it would lie on the far side of the basalt.
A ray of scorching energy whizzed over Vhok's shoulder. The beam struck the massive flank of the resting serpent squarely. With a shudder, the beast began to uncoil. Its head rose into view, towering over the cambion and the priest.
The snake peered down at the two intruders in its lair. It hissed and opened its mouth, lunging forward to strike.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Vhok swallowed his terror and held still. For the second time, he fought against his instincts. One part of his mind tried to make his body run, but he held his ground. Indeed, he took a step closer to the massive snake, more into the open.
Beside the cambion, Zasian seemed rooted to the spot. The priest muttered something under his breath, and Vhok saw that he held his pendant firmly in one hand.
The snake's head descended toward them, mouth gaping. The maw was large enough to engulf both humanoids.
"Get ready!" Zasian shouted. Vhok had no idea what the priest meant, but the great mouth closed the distance between them before he could ask. "Now!" Zasian screamed. "Jump into it!"
Refusing to dwell on the idiocy of leaping into a giant snake's mouth, Vhok vaulted forward. Together, the duo landed on the lower jaw, just clearing the fangs. The snake clamped its mouth down, engulfing the pair in darkness. Vhok felt tissue and muscle enclose him, smelled the stench of the creature's flesh and venom surrounding him.
The cambion wanted to scream. The sensation of being trapped overwhelmed, terrified him. He flailed about, suddenly desperate to get out. He felt his arm strike Zasian, sensed the priest squirming just ahead of him. Saliva drenched the half-fiend. The snake's insides pushed against him, sliding him along. He was being swallowed whole.
Oh, by the fell fiends, he thought, frantic to be free again, what have I done? Nothing is worth this!
Vhok kept his eyes and mouth shut as he slid along. He couldn't see, couldn't breathe. The sting of acids irritated his exposed skin. The constant pressure of muscle squeezed him, crushed him. He could only wiggle, and just barely.
Please, Aliisza. Be there. Hurry.
Vhok could feel himself swaying, and he wondered if the snake was moving.
Something hard struck him in the head. Zasian's boot, he realized. The priest was trying to kick.
My blade, Vhok thought, past the point of panic. Got to reach Burnblood! Cut my way free!
But of course, his arms were immobile, pinned against his body.
He was going to die, digested within the snake.
Aliisza quaked in the water, watching the storm dragon hover over her. She hadn't expected him to speak to her. That wasn't part of the plan. Zasian had never mentioned it.
She wondered what to do next. She wanted to flee.
Instinct overcame rational thought and she turned and began swimming away. She paddled furiously with Kael's strong muscles, pulling for all she was worth toward the shore. It was so tantalizingly close, and yet so far away.
The dragon zoomed past and drew up before her, blocking her path. "Answer me, little creature, or I shall slay you. Who told you to come and splash around in my pool?"
Aliisza turned away, swimming in another direction. Like a fish fleeing a bird of prey, she wanted only to escape.
The dragon dived into the water behind her.
Aliisza realized it was worse than having the wyrm hovering over her, for she could not sense where the beast was until too late. She stifled a scream and turned to draw herself toward the edge. She kept reaching down with her toes, hoping to find the solid bottom in the shallows. At the same time, she was petrified of poking her foot down into the dragon's gaping mouth.
The creature surfaced beneath her. But he did not eat her. Instead, he thrust her upward with his snout, tossing her high into the air. She sailed away from the shoreline, out into the middle of the pool. She brushed past one column, then struck a second one. The blow drew a gasp of pain from her, and she felt a few of her ribs crack. The alu slid limply down the column and into the water.
The dragon swam to her, his head barely out of the water, only his eyes and the top of his snout visible. As he drew close, he rose a bit and spoke again.
"Are you going to answer me, puny thing? What brings you here, to my private sanctum? Tell me, or I will devour you."
Aliisza blinked and tried to gather her breath. She could barely muster the strength to stay afloat, but she turned and began to swim away. Every stroke sent shooting pains through her midsection. She quaked but did not look back.
The storm dragon sighed. "Very well," he said. "I warned you."
Aliisza screamed as the huge wyrm pounced on her.
The beast's jaws engulfed the alu and clamped closed around her, leaving her in utter darkness. The force of the strike gathered water into the creature's mouth along with her, and she slipped beneath the surface of it. She tried to flail about, to pull her head into air, but the dragon's tongue was drawing her down, toward its throat.
It was swallowing her alive.
No! Aliisza silently screamed. Let me out! Oh, please, Tauran, find me!
The alu tried to claw her way to the front of the dragon's mouth, but contracting muscle all around her forced her the other way. Flailing in panic, Aliisza inexorably slipped into the storm dragon's innards.
A sense of dread and finality crashed over her, and she began to black out.
No! she thought, remembering, fighting the hysteria that gripped her. She glided to a stop and smelled the horrible, burning odor of the dragon's digestive acids all around her. There is a way out!