Titans nest, p.15
Titan's Nest, page 15
Gerard picked up his pack and hammer and began to follow the path again. He smiled, as if pleased by my question.
“The aquapuss does a neat trick or two,” Gerard said with a finger in the air, “they can change the color of their skin-”
“It can?” I asked appalled.
“Sure can,” Gerard nodded. “So, an aquapuss will climb onto the rocks above the water or in the shallows and change its color so it blends in with the stone, ya see. Then when a little birdy comes a floating by, it will shoot a jet of water at the little buzzard and knock it straight out of the sky. Once the bird hits the water, that aquapuss is on it faster than a squirrel on a nut.”
“They eat birds?”
“Sure do.” Gerard nodded. “This girl’s still a babe, but I’m sure her mum could wrangle down a whole gull all by herself.”
“Woah,” I mouthed, forgetting about the heat and my aching feet as we talked. “What other creatures do you have? Do you have anything else from Cy’ann? Or what about Eclipto—”
I was interrupted by a powerful buzzing. I spun around and looked to the sky, excited to see the hummingbird mounts from Nerium again, but they were nowhere to be seen. Gerard’s palm fell against my chest and he held another finger over his bearded lips signaling me to be quiet.
The buzzing grew louder. Gerard dragged me from the path into the face of another rock formation. He quickly pulled Tenebros’ cover tightly over the dragon, then buttoned his vest over him. The buzzing reminded me of the time I wandered too close to a wasp’s nest in the woods and Maximus pried it with a stick. But, this had been far more intense and I felt my spine rattling within me from the noise.
Swarmborne.
16
DARREN DUSKFELL
Sand and dust spilled over us in a violent torrent. The hammering of their wings felt so intense I feared blood may bubble up from my ears and that the chattering of my teeth may never stop.
My heart struggled to find a proper beat amongst the symphony of clicks and buzzing. Gerard stepped in front of me. I became pinned between his pack and the rock wall behind me.
For a brief moment my mind flashed back to the gulf. I was once again pinned between the Wraith and the blade-like rocks, the storm splashing against me. Maximus’ voice called out to me to climb faster.
THUMP.
THUMP.
The sound of something heavy falling to the stone awoke me from my dream.
Two of them? I thought amazed and terrified, only two of them had made such a ruckus?
I peeked around Gerard’s pack slowly, my knees wobbling beneath me.
Two Scarabs stood before us. I had learned about this species of Swarmborne in my readings. Scarabs were the battering rams, the bulls, the muscle of the Swarmborne. Their brownish-red armor appeared the same color as the desert around us, yet despite the dust, it had an almost metallic shine to it. A large spiked horn protruded from each of their brows; a horn, according to my readings, that could split a tree in two and lift a boulder.
Their eyes were slanted and gold like freshly polished coins, four of them. The two in the front were larger than the other two that were at the edge of the temple.
The tips of their translucent, beetle-like wings rotated down and hid behind their backs.
The thick outer wing, half oval shells that resembled sleek shields, slid into place over them while they were not in use.
The most unsettling part of the giant insects before me were not that they towered over eight feet tall, and not that they each carried a weapon twice my size. No, the most disturbing part was how unmistakably human the Swarmborne were. In every story I heard, every page I read, the Swarmborne were mindless and savage giant bugs with a lustful hunger for human flesh, nothing more. But the creatures that stood before me were certainly not that.
I had been most surprised that I felt as if I could guess the creature’s ages. The Scarab on the left stood a tad bit shorter than the one on the right. He had less jagged scars and chips in his armored body and for whatever reason, had a more youthful look in his face. A leather satchel hung strapped across his thorax and a thick belt with a dagger ran secured around his shockingly thin waist.
Both creatures had four barbed arms. The top two were armored and spiked with their earth-colored plating. Just beneath those arms hung the other pair, but the second were much thinner, much more insect-like. Each set of arms had small hooked claws that sprouted from the jointed elbows and wrist. They had only three fingers and three toes. His mouth, although much smaller, appeared not much different than my own besides the mandibles in its jaw. Their legs bent in the opposite direction than a human’s.
The younger Scarab carried a large battle axe; one of his larger arms carried the top half, while a smaller under-arm held the butt of the weapon. The handle appeared to be made from an
insect limb itself, and the blade ran curved and clawed. I noticed he had painted white stripes across both his huge shoulder plates and down his left arm.
The older Scarab had a brown torn fabric that wrapped around his thick neck and covered the bottom half of his face. He wore a beaded necklace and carried a large spiked club. He pointed the end of the weapon straight at Gerard.
Gerard gently placed the head of his hammer into the dirt by our feet, then held up both his hands by his shoulders, his palms facing the Swarmborne. The Scarab stepped forward.
Gerard clicked his tongue quickly, then made an odd snapping noise. I flinched at the sound, and so did the Swarmborne. The two Scarabs froze, then looked at one another, then back at Gerard.
The older Scarab lowered his club and clicked back three times.
Gerard is speaking with them, I realized in astonishment.
After a few more clicks and snaps with his tongue, Gerard seemed to relax a little and I noticed the younger Scarab now leisurely leaned his weight against his axe.
We may survive this yet, I thought. My heart fluttered and my legs regained their uneasy shake when the club suddenly pointed at me with a sharp hiss from the Scarab’s mouth.
Slowly, very slowly, Gerard reached behind himself and I felt his massive palm slick with sweat, grab my wrist. He carefully pulled me out from behind himself. Both beetles watched me with intense care, all eight of their eyes refusing to look away. I knew my body shook, but I couldn’t help myself. After what felt like hours in front of the creature’s judgment, it nodded to Gerard and made a satisfied noise. Gerard quickly whipped me back behind him.
The two Scarabs conversed amongst each other for a moment and the younger one shrugged his shoulders at one point, then his wings opened up as if to stretch for a moment be- fore sliding back behind his body.
They’re so human-like it's frightening, I told myself, amazed at their familiar body language. I felt as if a human were simply wearing a complex set of beetle armor. The only thing that squandered my theory had been the unbearable heat of the desert. No human could survive under all that.
“No sudden movements,” Gerard whispered to me, “but they are going to let us pass—”
A powerful snap, like the jaws of a dragon, clacked twice above us. I could sense Gerard stiffen once more. I lifted my eyes slowly. A dark figure loomed over us; the details of its body silhouetted against the sun. It sprung from the cliff and landed gracefully a few strides in front of Gerard. He pushed me deeper against the rock.
Before us stood a monster shelled in a bright orange armor. The creature’s top arms were both massive claws, like that of a crab, big enough to slice my entire body in two with a single cut. This creature had no wings, but sprouting from the base of its spine arched a tail that hung over its body, a stinger the size of my forearm at its tip.
I felt something slide against my side. Gerard had quietly unsheathed a dagger and gently passed it to me. The dryness of my throat burned as I nervously swallowed what little spit I had, then took the knife in my shaking hands.
This creature, this scorpion, lurked three heads taller than Gerard. I looked on in surprise at multiple necklaces of unfinished gold and copper amulets around its boxy neck. Hammered bracelets of gold, lumpy and unpolished, hung around its elbows at the base of its claws. A braided green belt covered his waist and two human skulls had been tied at his hip. They knocked together as he moved across the clay. Unlike his tribesmen, his eyes were black as night.
The scorpion-like creature crossed his thin under arms across its thorax as if annoyed, then snapped its claws in Gerard’s face. Gerard hardly flinched. But I forced dirt and sand to break from the wall behind me as I tried to burrow in further. The desert beast spun around and viscously clicked and spat at the two Scarabs, who bowed their heads and shoulders towards their apparent leader.
The scorpion continued to snap and snarl at his two tribesmen with his back to us, when a soft squawk came from Gerard’s chest. The Swarmborne halted as if time stood still.
I held my breath.
The tip of the scorpion’s tail turned and faced us first, as if it had a mind of its own. Then the Swarmborne pivoted the rest of his shelled body and locked eyes with Gerard.
Before Gerard could explain in their native tongue, the scorpion creature darted across the sand and slashed his left pincher upward.
Torn fabric clung to the tip of the creature’s claw and Gerard’s shirt and vest were torn down the middle, as was the swaddle Tenebros was hidden in. The exhausted black dragon un- coiled from the fabric and fell to the ground in a poof of dust.
All three Swarmborne hissed in disgust and dove backwards, their respective weapons raised in front of them.
“Get Tenebros,” Gerard said stiffly.The scorpion’s orange tail reared back high in the air. I saw a black venom drip from its tip, then it came darting down at Tenebros. Snatching his hammer with impressive speed, Gerard batted the armored tail away with the handle of his tool.
I spun around Gerard and scooped up Tenebros, who still laid half asleep and hiding his dark eyes from the fierce sun, then scrambled away from the fighting.
With a heavy thump, Gerard drove the head of his hammer into the thorax of the scorpion, sending him toppling backwards.
The older Scarab opened his wings and flew forward at Gerard, the frantic buzzing filling the air once more. Its three sharp fingers wrapped around Gerard’s neck and slammed him hard against the stone wall. Gerard grunted as the air was forced from his lungs and he dropped his hammer.
The Scarab drew back his club and prepared to smash in Gerard’s skull.
No, not Gerard… not him too…
The next thing I recalled, I was dragging the dagger Gerard had given me out of the Scarab’s neck. It took me nearly three stabs to find an opening in the beetle's armor after I sprung on his back, but once I found it, I buried the knife in him over and over again. The creature screamed viciously and had been forced to drop Gerard back to the ground. A black ooze covered my hands and face and more splattered me each time I stabbed.
One of its elbow spikes sliced open my thigh and it felt like a hot iron had been pulled across my flesh.
The Scarab spun and I was whipped across the desert floor. I grunted as I rolled through the clay. The Scarab fell to the earth, its wings still buzzing as it tried to grab at its gushing wound.
The Scorpion, now back to its feet, headed right for me, snapping its pinchers in a flurry. The other Scarab was right by his side, his massive axe shining in the sunlight as he brought it over his shoulder.
They were only a few feet away now. I looked around for help but I saw only the red desert. Gerard lay coughing into the dirt.
The tip of the scorpion tail rose above me, aiming for my face. I couldn’t breathe. I closed my eyes.
A shearing pain dove into my flesh… I screamed in agony.
My shoulder… He drove the stinger straight through my shoulder…
It felt like lightning ripped across my body. I moaned in agony as a wild force surged through my blood, as if it were boiling beneath my very skin. I forced myself to look at the wound.
I pried open my eyes. Tenebros’ fangs were deep in my shoulder, his dark eyes shimmering with power. Everything fell black around me. I heard the beastly roar of a dragon, like thunder breaking free of the sky.
17
RYKER DAWNROSE
They separated me from the rest of the prisoners after our failed mutiny. The temperature dropped rapidly the further east we sailed. My arms were shackled above my head and I was forced to stand, my only rest coming when I leaned my weight against the mast I was chained to. The pain in my broken leg had faded for a while, but now the unbearable cold made the poorly set limb feel like crushed glass had been trapped in my knee.
I lost track of how long we had been at sea. I knew wherever they were taking us couldn’t be good, but even I felt an unbelievable sense of relief when the ship came to a slow, jerking stop, and we finally docked.
I quickly realized we had sailed as far west as west could go.
Towering cliffs speckled with snowfall surrounded the harbor. No trees, no shrubbery, no life. Only stone and sleet. A gray sky clouded out the afternoon sun above us. Our kidnappers began to shout orders and scurry about the deck, preparing to unload.
A buzzing overtook the sounds of the tide and their hollering. A loud, terrible buzzing.
A hot sweat broke out over my skin and I held my breath to listen more intently. I had heard the sound twice before on hunts with my father. Both times we were out far past any human trail, deep in the wilds of Dazawrath. Both times a Swarmborne ambush quickly followed.
“Let me free,” I begged my kidnappers. “If you don’t free me, we are all dead!” The buzzing drowned out my plea.
Scarabs, white as pearl, dropped onto the deck. First two, then four, then eight in total.
Nearly nine-foot-tall beetles in the form of men, armored heavier than the Silver Guard, now covered the ship. Great ‘Y’ shaped horns protruded from their brows and they carried barbed axes and clubs in their four arms. Spiny collars of fuzz wrapped around their necks. The silhouette of a sapphire moth had been painted on their shoulder plates.
My kidnappers stood frozen, terror ceasing their muscles and minds.
I tried one last time to free myself from my shackles with a fierce tug. They rattled and snapped, but did not budge.
A great crash upon the deck shook the entire ship and forced it to rock to and fro.
Everyone stumbled and attempted to regain their footing. I looked up to see one last Swarmborne had landed on the ship.
This Scarab had touched down just a few yards in front of me. This monster was not white like the other bugs - but pitch black. The bug inspected the crew tensely. Slowly scanning its eyes over each human. None of them flinched. Finally, the Scarab took notice of me. It al- lowed its wings to fall down behind its back as it stomped towards me, two curved axes hanging from its pinchers. The Verdourin scurried out of the way without protest. It stopped just a foot from me and leaned in close.
The creature smelt of earth and lumber. The beast’s black eyes studied me for a moment. Its gaze running from my shackled hands down to my mangled leg. It clicked sharply to itself, as if dissatisfied. Its two larger arms carried its man-sized weapons, so its smaller pinchers were free. It raised its right lower-arm, grabbing my chin between its barbed fingers. I could feel the sharp edges of its fingers pressing into my soft flesh as it moved my chin side to side, examining every detail of my face.
I whipped my face free and spat on to the beast’s chest.
The surrounding Swarmborne hissed and snapped viciously as my spit trailed down their leader’s thorax. The black Scarab’s eyes wandered down to its own chest, then back up to my own eyes.
With tremendous speed, the creature’s barbed axe crashed into my restraints, shattering my cuffs and splintering wood in every direction.
I fell against the deck, my hands now free.
Before I could even think, the bug’s clawed pinchers smashed into my chest and chased the wind from my lungs. Its fingers grabbed my collar, tearing straight through my shirt. I was pulled from the ground and held in the air. The Scarab vaulted me high above the onlookers like I was no more than a troublesome kitten.
The other Scarab’s hummed and snapped wildly, the Verdourin scrambled to the edge of the ship. I hung above the beast’s horn helplessly.
“Enough, Rhyparus.” A voice, steady and bold, rose over the wind. We all turned to look to see who spoke with such authority.
A man stood perched on the railing of the ship. His face hidden beneath a fur lined hood. His hands rested casually behind him at the small of his back. The wind snapped his dark cloak around his figure dramatically, like a tide of black waves pushing and pulling around him. I spotted the hilt of an old sword resting at his hip, and an oddly shaped box hung strapped be- tween his shoulders. The Swarmborne and Verdourin alike fell silent.
“Not a single one of my guests will be harmed,” the hooded man declared matter-of-factly.
I was lowered to the deck with the gentleness and care a mother shows her new born child. The giant Scarab leaned me against the mast, tensely took two steps away from me, then bowed respectfully to the hooded man.
“Come now,” the man spoke again. “If I don’t have a hot cup of tea within the hour, I’ll be a Hollow before the night is through.” And as swiftly as he appeared, he dropped from the edge of the ship and vanished.
I began to pull myself upright when a rough and scratchy bag was draped over my head, hiding the world around me. New shackles snapped into place around my wrist. I was being dragged from the deck.
The steady hold of the dock felt so foreign to me, as if I had never walked across dry land in all my life. I wanted to fall to the earth and bury my face in its unmovable surface. If it weren’t for my shackles and bagged head, I might have done so.
“Oy, you alright, Ryker?” a strong, but tired voice whispered behind me as they forced us into a line. I realized I must have been the only one with a potato sack over my head. “We thought they killed you.”
