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32.
“It
will be sssoon now.” The sibilant hiss woke Namara from
her half dose.
She
opened her eyes and looked around the dilapidated room they kept her
prisoner in.
This
place depressed her, there was no getting away from it. It
stank of disuse and urine.
The
walls were covered in peeling paint that had yellowed with age. The
floor had so much dirt and debris on it that you were surprised when
you saw the occasional peek of the original tiling.
“Oh,
shut up you little toad I’m trying to get some rest. It’s
not like it’s easy to sleep like this.” She rattled
the chains that bound her hands and feet to the table.
Namara
lifted her head as far as she could to look around for the snake
demon who had been irritating her continuously since she’d been
tied flat on her back to the steel table.
Right
about now any position would be preferable, she ached even where she
didn’t think she had muscles to ache with. They only let
her up to use the bucket in the corner of the room, and that usually
required some begging on her part.
“Nasssty
dragon isss going to die.”
“I
thought I told you to shut-up!”
The
snake demon came into Namara’s line of vision. It was
short for a snake demon, only about three feet tall, and wore a
hooded robe to hide its hideousness. Every now and then its forked
tongue would slither out and be visible beyond the cowl of the robe.
“I will not
ssshut-up. Nasssty dragon will give Sssandamar great gift
with her death.”
“What
are you ranting about?”
“Your
blood hasss the power of a god in it. Sssandamar will
bleed you out in a ritual and he will gain the power of a god for our
massster.”
So that’s why
Sandamar had such a jones for kidnapping her. Why hadn’t
someone told her this before? And who was this master the
snake demon was talking about. Namara was shocked, but she
wasn’t going to let the little demon see it.
“Rubbish,
even if my blood did have the power of a god there would be no way
Sandamar would get that power.”
“SsssSssssSssss”
the demon hissed laughing.
“You
are ssstupid if you think you will not give Sssandamar the power he
wantsss.”
“Oh
just go away toad, or I’ll tell Sandamar that you were hurting me
and he’ll punish you.”
“You
would lie to Sssandamar?”
“Noooo,
I would never – Oh don’t be an idiot – of course I’d lie to
Sandamar!”
The
snake demon hissed and left the room. Muttering under its
breath about nasty dragons getting what was coming to
them.
Namara
closed her eyes and tried to relax, maybe if she concentrated hard
enough she could contact the spirit center of her people, those
dragons who had chosen to become more than physical beings,
enlightened and powerful, they were able to see into the past and the
future. If anyone would know if Namara held the power of a
god in her blood it would be the veiled ones. They would
also give her an idea what to do about it. That was if
they wanted to. They were notoriously stubborn about
sharing their knowledge.
She
slowed her breathing, relaxing the muscles in her body, one at a
time. Starting with her feet and working her way to her
chest, until she was in a deep state of meditation.
Namara
lay as still as death for over two hours. When she opened
her eyes they were filled with absolute determination.
“Yes,
veiled one, I understand.” She spoke someone who could not be seen
or heard by anyone else. “It will be done as you have
requested.”
A chorus of soft
whispers filled the room. “You have our blessings Namara
of the Emeralds.”
“Who
wasss that talking?” The demon hissed as it entered the
room.
Namara
turned her head to look at the snake creature.
“You
must be loosing it Ugly, there was no one talking.”
It
hissed at her. “You will die!”
“Oww,
I’m so frightened. I’m shivering in my chains.” Namara spoke in
a bored monotone.
The
demon hissed and stamped its robe-covered foot.
“I
am happy the massster is killing you tonight. You are
nasssty.”
“Oh, buy a
dictionary. You’ve said I’m nasty one to many
times.” She almost giggled, it seemed that hanging out
with those lycos made her glib with her comebacks.
The
snake demon hissed in rage and left the room.
At
least she had an idea of the time schedule. She was on the
chopping block tonight. If the lycos were going to save
her they’d have to get a move on and find her.
They
were all in the cafeteria, with the exception of Darius and Dragon
who had demanded their grid assignment from Gabriel and set off
immediately.
This
time of the morning it was dangerous to be in the compounds main
kitchen, with all the people bustling about, chances were you would
get in the way. So they sat around the cafeteria table and
ate breakfast. Joking and playing the fool to keep the
mood light. They all felt the tension of the upcoming
battle, it was only a matter of time before they found Namara, and
the fight to get her back would be bad, probably costing life or
limb.
“How can
you put all that food away, or for that matter, where the heck do you
put it?”
Drew
asked Seth. He had a plate piled high with bacon, egg –
both sunny side up and scrambled, sausages and toast.”
He
swallowed what he was chewing then looked at her seriously. “A
man needs his energy, and since you sapped me of all mine last
night…” He shrugged and left the sentence
hanging.
“Seth!” Drew
aimed a clout at his head. He ducked and popped another
bite of food into his mouth.
Everyone
laughed at the pair’s antics.
“Next
time aim a kick at him under the table,” Selphie advised Drew
through a giggle. “He won’t see that coming.”
“Don’t
give her ideas Selph, it would be unhealthy for you.” Seth
teased the nymph.
Ross
pushed his plate away. “Where is Gabe, I’m ready for
my assignment.”
“I’m
here.”
Drew turned to see
Gabriel coming through the door with a familiar face in
tow.
“Would have been here
sooner but I needed to play butler.” He winked at Drew.
“Brynn, you didn’t need
to bring my car today, it could have waited.” She said
in greeting to her sister, who was trailing Gabriel with a look of
awe struck wonder on her face.
“Huh?” Brynn
looked at Drew.
Drew
burst out laughing. “Close your mouth and come have a
seat, so I can introduce you to everyone.”
“Hey
Brynn.” Seth smiled a greeting.
“Hi
Seth.” Brynn was too busy gawking to even smile
back.
Dante
shifted up patting the bench next to him. “Hello Brynn,
you can have a seat right next to me.”
“Down
Dante!” Drew warned the wolf.
“Bry,
watch out for that one.”
“What?”
he grinned at Drew. “You’re spoken for, Brynn
isn’t.” He wiggled his eyebrows.
“He’s
teasing.” Drew explained to her sister. “At least I
think he is.”
Brynn
sat down next to the werewolf, still in a state of shock.
She
swallowed. “Gees, this is all a bit much to take in. I
never knew there could be so many beautiful people in one
place.”
“Well
I’ll introduce you, you should remember the names from what I’ve
told you about them.”
“This,”
Drew elbowed him in the side. “Is Ross.”
“Gods
Drew, when did I become your punching bag.” He flinched,
dramatically grabbing his ribs.
“Hi
Ross,” Brynn greeted him, “You’re
a…”
“Wereleopard.” He
supplied, then started grinning and told Drew, “You better teach
her to shield.”
“Don’t
listen then! Gah, Ross, she doesn’t know
better.”
“Impossible
not to listen.” He laughed, but got up. “Give
me my assignment Gabe, before Drew hits me again.”
“You’re
on F6 with Drew and Seth.”
“Okay,
I’ll meet you both at the car.” He sauntered out the
room, only to start laughing as he got to the door, Gabriel burst out
laughing at the same time.
Drew
thought she might know what had caused their laughter, she looked
over at Brynn then hissed
“Gods
Bry stop staring at Ross’s ass.”
“I’ll
teach her to shield while you guys are out.” Selphie
offered laughing with the rest.
“That
way future visits will be less entertaining to the angels around
here.”
“Angels?”
Brynn asked a little flustered.
“I’ll
let Selphie explain, I think you two are going to get on
great.”
Seth had
finished his food, he looked over at Drew. “Are we ready
beautiful?”
“Ah
huh.” Drew got up and kissed Brynn on the cheek. “Have
fun, I’ve got to go work now. But Selph will show you
the ropes. When we get back I’ll take you
home.”
They
had been searching grids the whole day long. There was
just too little people searching for them to take any real breaks,
but no one minded, they wanted to find Namara. Before
Sandamar could do anything to hurt the dragon.
About
half the grids had been searched by now, and everyone was starting to
get frustrated with the lack of progress.
“I’ve
got this feeling we have to find her today.” Ross
shifted on the back seat of the car with impatience. “I
don’t know why, but it’s a strong feeling. Insistent,
like its more than intuition.”
“We
have to trust that feeling then. I think we need to get
out this car and start looking on foot.” Seth
answered.
“Yeah
that’s a good idea.” Drew agreed.
Seth
turned to look at her in the dark interior of the car. “Just
stay close to me please. Don’t try and be a bad-ass. If
something happened to you…” he didn’t finish what he
was going to say.
Drew
was tempted to ask him, what, what if something happened to her, how
would he feel. Just shrug it off as shit happens, or would
he be in pain, would he morn her if she died. She kept her
mouth shut, just about bit holes in her tongue, now was not the time
to get into a discussion about what he may or may not feel for
her.
So she
nodded, telling him that way that she would stay close to
him.
They parked
the car and got out, closing the doors quietly.
“I’m
going in that direction.” Ross pointed down the street to the
right. “I’ll call if I need you.”
Seth
nodded, “Good, keep a low profile and be careful.”
Ross
moved off at a fast clip weaving in and out between the doorways of
the old buildings.
Sandamar’s
skivvies came in to the room where Namara was chained at about eight
pm. Namara couldn’t be sure of the time, but the sun had
set a while ago. They stripped her, cutting her clothes
off her body and sponged her down with warm water that was scented
with some pungent herb.
Namara
was grateful only for the fact that they were woman. The
whole situation had her gritting her teeth and hurling abuse at the
cloaked female demons.
They
spread a white sheet over her once they had completed the
cleansing. Leaving her naked and tied down to the table,
covered only in a thin piece of fabric.
Namara
cursed her father’s instances that he remove the bracelets that
stopped her from shifting. He should have let Dragon have
the spell to remove the cumbersome metal. If she didn’t
have the bracelets on, Sandamar would have been a well-cooked roast
by now.
She lay as
still as she could, tiny tremors running through her body, some of
them from being cold, but more from being scared. Namara
had never been this scared in her life.
“Grow
some balls girl, you’re tougher than this.” She
mumbled to her self.
The
female demons came into the room again forming a circle around the
table Namara was chained to. They started chanting in the
language of magic. Namara could understand what they were
saying, it was a spell, or the beginning of one at least, they were
performing a death spell. It felt like ice was forming in
her blood and travel along her body.
“It
will take really strong magic to kill a dragon you morons.” She
spat at the demon circle. “Stronger than I think you
bunch of wanna-be sorcerers have in you.”
They
ignored her and continued chanting.
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