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60 - A Bit More Rescuing
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Theo
Someone screamed, and then all at once Suni came flying over the top of the palisade. For a moment she was suspended in the air, like Lesous himself descending to the mortal plane. The moment passed and she toppled to the ground with a resounding thud.
She bounced once, then lay still.
“Not exactly the rescue I had in mind,” Senesio said with a frown. “I’d imagined something that involved, well, a bit more rescuing and a bit less…” He gestured toward her limp form. “That.”
Suni looked up, eyes filled with exhaustion, pain, and ancestors knew what else. She shook her head.
“Apprehend her, please,” Commander Ozdemir ordered. Soldiers rushed over, swords drawn.
And then the palisade groaned and leaned inward.
“Son of a swindler,” Demetrias cursed, eyes wide, and I couldn’t blame him.
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Commander Ozdemir raised his gaze to the top of the stakewall, and I joined him. Where once morning light had trickled through the rough-hewn tree trunk wall, now there was only darkness. Shadow. The komodo, blocking out the light.
A growl echoed out as the shadow rose higher, taller. Impossibly tall.
It was standing on two legs! A clawed foreleg slapped down on the top of the stakewall. The tree trunks groaned more, then a few splinters rained down. The structure leaned further inward.
A second leg came down with a crash, then the komodo’s head emerged. A snout, a flicking tongue, then two giant, orange eyes rose above the palisade.
“Gods have mercy,” Commander Ozdemir said, and the guards all stepped back at once.
I even heard Senesio swallow hard.
One of the tree trunks exploded, cracking at its midpoint. Then another, and another. Splinters flew through the air, pinging off helmets and shoulder plates.
The komodo rose higher, pushing itself up with its forelegs, then all at once the stakewall collapsed.
Soldiers sprinted out of the way, running as wood and tree trunks and rope all came down in a hail of lethal debris. A cloud of dirt whooshed into the air, then swept over us like a tidal wave.
Demetrias panicked, kicking his chair over backwards. Maritza cursed and flung herself to the side, crawling toward the door to the officer’s quarters. I was rooted in place, coughing uncontrollably.
Sunlight trickled through the floating dirt, then more and more as the cloud dispersed.
It settled enough and I blinked the dirt from my eyes, then looked up to find the komodo standing triumphantly at the newly created entrance to the camp.
Its tongue whipped out, once, twice, tasting the air. Its eyes flicked here and there, snapping from one soldier to the next, all of whom stared back in a shocked silence.
The beast took a step forward and all hell broke loose.