image [https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/574524632b8dded535877035/a69c0d02-c86b-45c9-9a6c-672acac79342/Sword+1.png?format=1500w]

51 - Keep That To Yourself

* * *

Senesio

“Well, we meet again, old friend,” I said, and sheathed my sword. Not a lot of use it was going to be here.

The big brute of a lizard was back. Wasn’t more than fifty paces away, standing stock still and watching from inside a thicket of branches. The color of its skin blended in all too well. Even looking directly at it, with my exceptional eyesight, it took a moment to see the beast.

There was no doubt it’d seen us, though. How long had it been following us?

“Run,” Theo hissed, keeping her voice down, like that would do anything. “Run!”

She burst into motion, leading the others. The komodo roared, a gurgling growl that rose into a bellowing, earth-shaking scream. Then it charged. Banyan branches burst and cracked, torn away as the beast plunged through them. Dirt flew, ravaged by thrashing legs and the force of its massive tail lashing side to side. But there was no time to watch, no time to do anything but run. Though I hated to admit it, there were some battles even I couldn’t win one on one. I ran as well.

Theo was at the front of the group. She ducked under a low hanging branch, then sidestepped around a cluster of roots too thick to pass through.

Her foot caught on something and she fell, scrambled to her feet, kept going. Grunts and curses accompanied her mad sprint, everyone else having just as difficult a time with the thicket. Except me, of course. I held at the back of the group, making sure Demetrias or Maritza didn’t fall behind. Wasn’t worried about Suni.

A great tree groaned from behind me, then came crashing down. The ground shook with its impact. Theo stumbled, then led us through a hard right turn, putting a banyan heart between us and the komodo. I ushered the last of the group along, then stole a glance back. The komodo was right on us but it turned early, lowered its head, and plunged through the banyan heart.

The crash sent Demetrias stumbling to the ground and I stooped to get him back on his feet but something slammed into my back and I fell on top of him.

Branches snapped and groaned behind me as I shook my vision steady. And then something wet and sticky dripped down in front of me, slapping onto Demetrias’ head, then his cheek.

Saliva. From the komodo.

Not good.

I rolled over, and all I could see was the raw pink of the inside of its mouth and a row of hooked teeth, long as daggers. Its tongue flicked out and slapped into my shoulder.

The beast pushed its head through, mouth open wide to crush closed on us. Or it tried to, but it was stopped short, caught in the banyan thicket.

“Overgrown iguana,” I huffed, then drew my sword and rammed it into the thing’s nostril in one smooth movement.

The komodo jerked back, roaring in surprise and pain.

And then another snap, and another. The branches gave way and the komodo began to pull itself free.

“I think you pissed it off,” Demetrias said, scrambling to his feet.

“Best not to wait around and find out, eh?” I said, then broke back into a sprint.

An entire tree was uprooted, then tumbled past us and the komodo was free.

“We’re not going to make it!” Demetrias shouted.

“If you can’t win the fight, retreat until you can,” Theo shouted back. “That’s what Sergeant Kyriakos would say. And if you can’t retreat, dig in.”

Her eyes went wide as she said it, as if a realization had struck her.

“This way,” she shouted, then pulled a left toward the closest banyan heart.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

Ahead, Theo dropped to her knees and slid under the tangle at the base of a banyan heart. She came to a stop, then pitched forward and crawl-ran deeper in, hands scrabbling at the dirt to keep her balance.

Maritza was next, sliding on her stomach. She stopped short, but Theo grabbed her by the shoulders and dragged her into the maze of roots.

Suni, then, stumble-sprinting through the foliage. Her foot caught a root and she went down hard with a grunt, then crawled the rest of the way in, feet kicking as she wormed forward.

Demetrias began to lose speed as he approached but I grabbed him by the back and gave him a much-needed shove. He went down on his stomach, but slid a good distance in. As soon as his feet disappeared, I ducked in after him.

The komodo’s jaws snapped shut just behind me with a bone shaking clap, and a whoosh of air rushed past.

“Well that was close,” I said, rolling on to my stomach and staring out at the komodo as it came to a stop. “But not close enough!” I scooped up a rock and bounced it off the beast’s leg.

The komodo leaned in, tilting its head and trying to get one massive eye low enough to see into the mess of roots. When it couldn’t, it snorted, blowing a burst of air into our hiding spot and stirring up dirt and leaves. Heavy footfalls stomped into the earth and the thing began circling the banyan heart, tongue flicking out to feel at the edges of it.

I spared a moment to take in our refuge. It was like being in a crawl space of a building, except instead of beneath a floor, we were beneath a dense tangle of roots. There was just enough room to crouch and crawl around. For the moment, it was enough.

“Good thinking,” Maritza said, and clapped Theo on the shoulder.

The soldier shrugged it off. “I mean, I bought us time, but now we’re trapped,” she said, eyes following the legs of the komodo as it continued its slow investigation.

“It’ll get bored eventually, right?” Demetrias asked. “Get bored and piss off after some other... ” He hesitated. “Other prey?”

“It’s followed us this far,” I said, working my way a bit more toward the edge to get a look up at the komodo. “I’m afraid it’s quite set on having us for dinner.”

The komodo’s tongue flicked out again, feeling the roots of the banyan heart and working its way in between them slightly. I grabbed a stick and slapped it. The tongue retreated in a hurry.

“Keep that to yourself,” I said, readying to rebuff the tongue again, but it didn’t come back. A foot did instead.

It crashed through the roots above, flattening them straight to the ground.

“Gah!” I shouted, rolling away and covering my head as debris rained down from above.

Light punched in through the hole and as I blinked the dirt from my eyes, I found one big komodo eye staring in at me.

I threw the stick at it, then rolled away as another foot came crashing in, opening a second hole.

“Well now you’ve really pissed it off!” Suni said.

Dirt fell around us in a constant stream as the komodo set to work, punching holes through the roots, then tearing them out with its sword-length claws.

I wormed away, pulling myself through the dirt and trying not to attract attention as I made for the parts of the tangle of roots still in one piece. The others crawled to the far side of the banyan heart, but even as they did, more and more daylight pierced the darkness of their refuge.

The komodo’s snout came next, pushing through one of the holes. Its nostrils flared wide, inhaling, then blasted air back out. The tongue followed, lashing around inside the already cramped space, feeling for food.

“We need to make a run for it,” Theo said, peering out of the far side. “There’s another heart twenty paces that way. We can make it.”

“It’s just gonna follow us,” Suni said, kicking as the tongue worked toward her boot. She scooted back on her butt, putting as much distance as she could between herself and the komodo, then fumbled Elpida’s flask from a pocket and took a quick swig. There was a dangerous look in her eyes as she did. A look that said she was about to do something stupid.

“Not this time,” I said, then snatched the flask away.

“What?”

“I have a better idea.” And I did. It came all at once, but it made perfect sense.

“Whatever it is, do it quick!” Maritza shouted, backed up against the far edge of the banyan heart and with the komodo’s tongue working its way toward her.

I reached out and grabbed it.

Slimy, hot, and firmer than I’d expected. The tongue jerked out of my grip as it retreated.

“Down here, big boy!” I shouted after it. “Come on, have another taste!”

The roots above groaned. I eased backward, preparing to roll away if a foot came punching through. A snout did instead and then teeth after it, dripping with thick, syrupy saliva.

A wave of hot, wet breath washed over me, and I found myself staring up and into the komodo’s mouth.

“Your breath would make a corpse smell good, you know that?”

The komodo’s only response was to open its jaws wider, teeth reaching down and down.

I touched the flask to my lips, filled my mouth with every last drop of rum in the thing, and leaned forward. The jaws were right in front of me, opening wider, wider...

I aimed for the komodo’s nostrils, then blew out a mist of gorgam rum. It sprayed into the air, the komodo’s mouth, its nose.

The beast hissed, then all at once jerked backward. A growl that ended in a whimper followed and I watched as the komodo stumbled away, shaking its head side to side.

“What was that?” Demetrias asked, eyes wide.

“The rum!” Suni said as the realization no doubt hit her. “That’s right! It’s made from the toxic powder of ground up gorgam cane. Elpida said the animals out here avoid it.”

I smiled and nodded. She was catching on quick.

“Quite right. The powder is poisonous. The rum isn’t, but it still smells like it.”

The komodo was still hissing and whining. It jammed its nose into the dirt, then rubbed it side to side.

“Now’s our chance,” I said, then gave the best bow I could manage while crammed under the banyan heart. I extended one arm away from the komodo with a flourish. “Shall we?”