Fate and Destiny (The Fated Series, #2)

Chapter 53 - Lance - What's Left

"What is it?" I push, still worried that my sister won't make it out after all. It's still alive, still trying to swim to the surface. I can't see its face, but I don't think I necessarily want to, not with its spikey mane and gleaming scales.

"It's a raver."

"A what?"

"Details to come," Rohana and Willa say at the same time.

I open my mouth to argue, but then a loud wail rings out and I look back up to find vines that somehow appeared, wrapping around the - the - raver's neck. I watch them tighten, watch more vines slip beneath its scales, and black, inky liquid starts to pour into the water. I assume it's the color of its blood, but then again, I know nothing about this - this thing. It's seven times the size of the water wolves that reappear around the garden, yipping and barking up the creature.

I'm slightly relieved that there are fewer people in town. Gods know how hard it's going to be to explain this.

The creature screams louder, and despite the water muffling it, the sound still has us throwing our hands over our ears to try and silence its painful ring. My hands do little, and the screeching becomes something that will likely soon...soon...ears...blood...

Gods will someone make it stop!

I hear someone else yell something, but I don't hear more than slurred words over this madness.

"Clarice!" I scream, or at least I think I do in hopes that she'll-

Oh, thank the Gods and their Saints.

My vision attempts at righting itself until small black dots scatter every time I blink, making it hard to focus on what's happening around me. My head feels like it's split in two, and despite my kneeling on the ground, I can't help but feel like it's tilting. Two hands grab my head and only my reflexes have me snatching their wrists and prying them away.

"It's alright! It's okay - it's Tanith! It's Tanith!" I loosen my grip on her but don't let go. My head's still spinning, my vision too bright and still spotted. I look up in the direction of her voice, finding three of her standing there.

Wasn't it Vanya who could duplicate?

"Stay here," she says pulling herself out of my grip. The movement has me off-balance, and I end up falling onto my side and getting mud all over half of my face.

I don't think I'm going anywhere.

A second later and there's another hand on my forehead, though this time it heats up against my skin. I try pulling away but stop as soon as I recognize the sensation. Healing. As soon as I think about it, my head clears, my eyes see in color and focus again, and my ears no longer ring nor echo with muffled voices. Everything becomes clear, and I am suddenly aware of how seriously uncomfortable I am in my soaked suit with mud everywhere.

"We need to get her to the coast. Now." I'm on my feet before anyone else can say more.

The tsunami of a contained wave has dispersed, the harsh swish of the now full moat telling me that it's over. Of course, there's no missing the huge, black body lying dead thing in the middle of the King's Garden. Not sure that the King will be pleased.

"What. The. Fuck."

Told you.

He comes up beside me, Rohana and Willa tight on his heels. The body is dead, that much is clear from its snapped jaw, impaled chest with what seem to be large thorns and a large amount of black substance pooling out of it. The once red eyes are empty, the teeth looking as long as my arm, and the jaw - if it were still intact - could swallow three men whole in one bite. It's not a face I want to remember, and the Gods awful smell of the corpse is something I'd rather never smell again.