71

Chapter 66

Okay, so, if you've actually been reading this up until now, those words should send you into a panic attack, running and screaming into the sunset.
I know just what to do and how I'm going to do it. In other words, I'm about to throw my life and possibly Coal's in jeopardy. Again.
I get to my feet, sturdily, somehow, and I try to bend and pick Coal up, or at least half-hoist him in my arms... As you can imagine, yeah... Not gonna happen... So I end up dragging him across the Bowl by the arms. I know full well that if he was conscious, he wouldn't be enjoying it, which gives me particular pleasure. He's alive. He is, and you can't deny it. Right?
My heart beats out the rhythm. All I have to do is follow it, one foot in front of the other, every step killing me all over again, draining me past the point of human ability, but bringing me closer to hope. Which is worth it.
I'm waiting for the light, for the tunnel to close in on me again. I know if the darkness comes this time, it won't leave, and it will all be over, for good. But I can make it... I can do this...
My lips are hardened and cracked, my throat burning with each forced breath, my tongue dry and sticky. My legs and shoulders kill me with stabbing pain every time they strain, wrenching tears from some deep reserve inside me. But I keep going, convinced that if I do this, it will all be okay...
I tell myself, one more step, every time my foot touches the ground, basically lying to myself, but it works, in some twisted way. I say, one more step, Ash, then you can rest, but I don't stop. I just keep telling myself that every step brings me closer to a place where I actually can rest... One more step, Ash, you can do this... Just one more step...
One more step.
One more step.
One more-
The Beast comes out of nowhere. One second, nothing but me and the fog (And Coal), the next, -BAM! A giant monster is standing smack in front of me.
It sees me at the same time I see it, and it's tiny black eyes narrow- Eye, actually. I recognize it as the same one that first reared in my path when I was trying to find Coal.
It backs away, slowly, cautiously eyeing me, as if weighing it's options- Like I said, they don't seem to be the smartest of creatures, because it seems to think I'm a threat. And it's not the one that's dying and exhausted and dragging a half-dead traitor in tote. Yeah...
I raise my chin, trying to look proud and haughty- But my instincts tell me to keep my chin down, not to expose my neck. One more reason me and Coal are different. Instead I glare at it, but I don't halt, and simply continue on straight at it, hoping to God that my sketchy plan goes right- Because there are two possible ways it can go- Right, and dead. No in the middle for me.
The Beast continues to back away, not daring to turn and let me out of it's sight, because we all know how I could just come up behind it and slaughter it like that. Mmm.
But I don't halt or falter in my steps, because I know that will show weakness, and weakness in the Wold, to these primitive Beasts... No, I can't afford it. One more step, Ash... Just until-
There. Bingo.
The creature is backed up against the wall of the Bowl, a ten foot ridge, and on the other side, a sheer drop of thousands upon thousands of feet.
The cornered Beast tenses, watching my every move, even as I don't stop. Trying to remember what St-I mean, Coal did... Is this a good idea? Obviously not. Which is exactly the reason why I'm still going to do it.
I know from experience cornered creatures will strike out when they need to- Which is another reason why I should stop now and turn away. But if I did that, then there wouldn't be any chance- There wouldn't be any hope. Not only for me, but there would be no hope for Coal, for the rebels, and ultimately, for a better world. I won't be the one to take away the hope.
I feel my ears flatten back against my hair, and the fur on my tail is spiking up. My claws extend without me even feeling it, and I don't even notice until fresh blood is moistening my fingers, making them slip on Coal's arms, because I've punctured his arms again... Kind of glad he's not awake...
I stop when I'm literally inches from the Beast- I can feel the heat coming off it's body. It's flattened itself to the ground like a cat, pinning it's body up against the wall, and a low growing reaches my ears, barely audible, emanating from some place deep in it's throat.
Okay, I'm not one to take an insult lightly. I'm not famous for my patience and benevolence... You don't even wanna know what the creature is saying in body language, though I doubt they'd let me write it down in here. I hiss back at it, baring my fangs, tail whipping the ground behind me.Yeah, that's right.
While it's still looking puzzled and trying to figure out if I have a lot of nerve, or I'm just plain stupid, I leap up about fifteen feet and grab both of it's horns in my hands, just like Coal did- Well, almost. I can jump higher.
The effect is instant. It automatically belches out a ground-shaking roar that vibrates in my skull, rearing back on it's two back legs, pawing at the air like a wild horse, heart beating furiously beneath me. But I hold on. I refuse to give up, and the way I figure, I'm already up here, might as well get on with it.
Mustering the very last of my strength (I've said something similar about fifteen times in the last couple of pages, so I'm wondering when I actually will reach the last of me?) I grit my teeth, and force the tips of the horns upwards, my arms shaking with the strain, and forcing the Beast's nose down to the ground, until it's bruised and bloodied white snout is grinding in the dirt.
Panting, I scan the creature's neck, searching, searching... I've got one shot. All at once, I release the Beast's horns, unleashing the monster's full power, and I leap forward off it's shoulders, launching myself at a point just between the base of it's skull and the spinal cord.
For one, long second, I'm airborne. I'm weightless. My hair floats back off my shoulders, my heart jumping into my throat because the monster turns to the side at just the wrong moment, and I'm hurtling past the head, through the air, the ground over twenty feet below, and I won't have time to land on my feet-
"Oof," I gasp out loud when the side of one long, seven foot horn catches me in the gut, knocking the breath out of me. I'm too stunned and winded to move, and I begin to slip, until finally my lungs can fill with air, and at the last second I catch myself, barely able to hold on to the smooth surface.
The moment I move, the sudden stab of pain in my right side causes me to cry out, but, steeling myself, I force myself to sidle along the horn until I'm hanging on to the creature's neck, as it bucks and twists and roars, leaping first twenty feet into the air, flipping with a giant flap of it's wings, then slamming back into the ground with enough force make my ears ring.
Slowly, my fingers entwined deep in the Beast's thick, matted white fur, I crawl towards the skull, almost completely falling on more than one occasion, when my sweaty hands slip, or when my arms give out from the exhausting strain. My body twists and bends with the Beasts, my head whirling, the world spinning. The sky is beneath me, and I'm about to tumble into it's endless blue depths, but then I'm completely sideways, and to my right is-
The Beast has been crawling and scraping it's way up the wall of the Bowl the whole time, and now it teeters on the very edge, reared back, two front legs flailing wildly through the air, leaving streaks the mist where they swipe, struggling not to lose it's balance, and tumble over the edge, the sheer, bottomless drop to my side.
Adrenaline gives me strength, and it the instant it's preoccupied, I dart forwards, and deftly sink the middle and pointer finger of my right hand into the tiny space between the base of the skull and the spinal cord, striking a nerve.
Instantly, the monster freezes. I dig my fingers deeper, twisting, and suddenly every muscle in the great creature's body goes slack. My heart travels quickly up to someplace around my throat, and we fall.