71

Chapter 67

... Into the Bowl. The cliffhanger just wouldn't have been the same if I had added that, though. Anyways...
The Beast tumbles back over the lip of the Bowl, and I feel it beginning to roll to it's side beneath me, and I'll be crushed.
So I balance on my tiptoes on the neck for a nanosecond, and I've leapt up and outwards, and landed deftly on my feet beside Coal before the monster has even come to a complete, thumping stop. My knees can't take the impact, though, and I collapse to the ground, catching myself with my hands before my face hits the ground, my matted hair swishing in front of my face.
I slowly look up through the dark curtain my hair makes, barely daring to peek. If- No, no, I can't afford to think like that. No, I haven't come this far for it all to fail. I sneak a peek.
A sigh of relief triggers a terrible spell of coughing which brings tears to my eyes, as my broken ribs grate and grind against themselves. I imagine I'm the perfect poster child for picture of the Ruler's cruelty.
The Beast lies still and unmoving on it's back where it rolled to, neck twisted at a strange angle where it was turned when I hit the pressure point. Only it's tiny, out of proportion eyes move around, looking fearful and slightly dizzy.
Shakily, I force myself to stagger to my feet, taking in my breath in short, shallow gasps. Every breath hits me with a fresh wave of pain that clouds my vision and makes my ears ring. But somehow I can shuffle slowly towards the paralyzed monster, dragging my torn and bloody bare feet, my ripped and muddy dress flapping against my legs in the wind, the cloth still damp from the rainstorm, and soothing on my sore and raw skin.
I stop inches before the great, towering creature, watching it's powerful, deep chest rise and fall with slow, steady breaths, it's beady, unblinking eyes watching my every move with the wariness possessed by only those who have survived and struggled in the depths of the Wold for their lives in the whole.
The wind gusts through the Bowl, lifting my hair back off my shoulders, and rustling the monster's dirty white fur, but neither of us bats an eye.
Standing there, three-quarters dead and one-quarter dying, on top of the great mountain, the highest point in the known post-apocalyptic world, with nothing to lose, staring into the eyes of a great paralyzed Beast, I feel something more than that. Something deep, unreachable, hopelessly entangled in legend and history and blood, something I don't completely understand, nor that I can put into words. But something, something passes between us, me and the one-eyed Beast. And in that fleeting, or perhaps eternal, moment, time slows down. The pains and aching and hunger and exhaustion wracking my body vanish, become nonexistent, along with any and every feeling and thought of ever have existed at all, of ever having been there and felt that and had a life on this earth, and I suddenly know. I know that which cannot be put into words, or written on paper, but it is that which is felt deep within. Just that simple understanding between two creatures who suddenly realize they are equals, and I know now. I understand.
The moment passes, and with it's passing, my weariness returns. But I'm left with a deep, unexplainable feeling of peace, of accomplishment. I know suddenly, exactly what I need to do, the entire plan, for the rest of my life. And I know that if I do it right, it will be alright. It might kill me to do it, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make, as long as I can pass on the realization.
I quickly chop my right hand in at the monster's jawline, right next to the throat, hitting a very small and exact pressure point which only some Beasts have. Instantly, the creature snaps around onto it's feet, turning and staring down at me. There's one second when I think it actually is going to attack me, the fire in it's eyes is suddenly so bright and intense... But then it's muscles relax, and it's good eye watches me with slightly less intensity. And I could swear it nods.
I sort of salute it, awkwardly, because of my broken ribs, then I realize saluting was kinda stupid because it can't possibly know what that means, and I'm trying to remember what that revelation I had was, and what I had realized, then my eyes land on Coal, and I forget everything.