couldn't see what Zasian had spotted, but then it became clear to him, and he gasped.
A gargantuan serpentine body lay unmoving, coiled around a great chunk of basalt as big as a house that thrust up from the floor of the courtyard only a few paces away. The creature's scales glimmered purple-blue in the orange light of the sky. Vhok could see no sign of a head. He assumed it would lie on the far side of the basalt.
A ray of scorching energy whizzed over Vhok's shoulder. The beam struck the massive flank of the resting serpent squarely. With a shudder, the beast began to uncoil. Its head rose into view, towering over the cambion and the priest.
The snake peered down at the two intruders in its lair. It hissed and opened its mouth, lunging forward to strike.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Vhok swallowed his terror and held still. For the second time, he fought against his instincts. One part of his mind tried to make his body run, but he held his ground. Indeed, he took a step closer to the massive snake, more into the open.
Beside the cambion, Zasian seemed rooted to the spot. The priest muttered something under his breath, and Vhok saw that he held his pendant firmly in one hand.
The snake's head descended toward them, mouth gaping. The maw was large enough to engulf both humanoids.
'Get ready!' Zasian shouted. Vhok had no idea what the priest meant, but the great mouth closed the distance between them before he could ask. 'Now!' Zasian screamed. 'Jump into it!'
Refusing to dwell on the idiocy of leaping into a giant snake's mouth, Vhok vaulted forward. Together, the duo landed on the lower jaw, just clearing the fangs. The snake clamped its mouth down, engulfing the pair in darkness. Vhok felt tissue and muscle enclose him, smelled the stench of the creature's flesh and venom surrounding him.
The cambion wanted to scream. The sensation of being trapped overwhelmed, terrified him. He flailed about, suddenly desperate to get out. He felt his arm strike Zasian, sensed the priest squirming just ahead of him. Saliva drenched the half-fiend. The snake's insides pushed against him, sliding him along. He was being swallowed whole.
Oh, by the fell fiends, he thought, frantic to be free again, what have I done? Nothing is worth this!
Vhok kept his eyes and mouth shut as he slid along. He couldn't see, couldn't breathe. The sting of acids irritated his exposed skin. The constant pressure of muscle squeezed him, crushed him. He could only wiggle, and just barely.
Please, Aliisza. Be there. Hurry.
Vhok could feel himself swaying, and he wondered if the snake was moving.
Something hard struck him in the head. Zasian's boot, he realized. The priest was trying to kick.
My blade, Vhok thought, past the point of panic. Got to reach Burnblood! Cut my way free!
But of course, his arms were immobile, pinned against his body.
He was going to die, digested within the snake.
Aliisza quaked in the water, watching the storm dragon hover over her. She hadn't expected him to speak to her. That wasn't part of the plan. Zasian had never mentioned it.
She wondered what to do next. She wanted to flee.
Instinct overcame rational thought and she turned and began swimming away. She paddled furiously with Kael's strong muscles, pulling for all she was worth toward the shore. It was so tantalizingly close, and yet so far away.
The dragon zoomed past and drew up before her, blocking her path. 'Answer me, little creature, or I shall slay you. Who told you to come and splash around in my pool?'
Aliisza turned away, swimming in another direction. Like a fish fleeing a bird of prey, she wanted only to escape.
The dragon dived into the water behind her.
Aliisza realized it was worse than having the wyrm hovering over her, for she could not sense where the beast was until too late. She stifled a scream and turned to draw herself toward the edge. She kept reaching down with her toes, hoping to find the solid bottom in the shallows. At the same time, she was petrified of poking her foot down into the dragon's gaping mouth.
The creature surfaced beneath her. But he did not eat her. Instead, he thrust her upward with his snout, tossing her high into the air. She sailed away from the shoreline, out into the middle of the pool. She brushed past one column, then struck a second one. The blow drew a gasp of pain from her, and she felt a few of her ribs crack. The alu slid limply down the column and into the water.
The dragon swam to her, his head barely out of the water, only his eyes and the top of his snout visible. As he drew close, he rose a bit and spoke again.
'Are you going to answer me, puny thing? What brings you here, to my private sanctum? Tell me, or I will devour you.'
Aliisza blinked and tried to gather her breath. She could barely muster the strength to stay afloat, but she turned and began to swim away. Every stroke sent shooting pains through her midsection. She quaked but did not look back.
The storm dragon sighed. 'Very well,' he said. 'I warned you.'
Aliisza screamed as the huge wyrm pounced on her.
The beast's jaws engulfed the alu and clamped closed around her, leaving her in utter darkness. The force of the strike gathered water into the creature's mouth along with her, and she slipped beneath the surface of it. She tried to flail about, to pull her head into air, but the dragon's tongue was drawing her down, toward its throat.
It was swallowing her alive.
No! Aliisza silently screamed. Let me out! Oh, please, Tauran, find me!
The alu tried to claw her way to the front of the dragon's mouth, but contracting muscle all around her forced her the other way. Flailing in panic, Aliisza inexorably slipped into the storm dragon's innards.
A sense of dread and finality crashed over her, and she began to black out.
No! she thought, remembering, fighting the hysteria that gripped her. She glided to a stop and smelled the horrible, burning odor of the dragon's digestive acids all around her. There is a way out!
Aliisza held her breath and kept her eyes clamped firmly shut as she fumbled for the flask she had tucked away. Frenzied horror left her shaking, nearly unable to work. When her hands closed on the container, she yanked it free.
Grasping the stopper, she opened the flask and dug the mushrooms out with her fingers. She scrabbled to get hold of the top one, but she had packed them in so tightly that she had difficulty catching hold.
Idiot! she cursed herself. Too many!
Finally, as her lungs were beginning to ache, the first few mushrooms slipped into her hand. A tiny spark of hope kept her going. She upended the flask and felt more of the fungus drop into her palm. She flung the mushrooms everywhere in that absolute, engulfing darkness.
Finished, Aliisza tossed the flask away and felt around, frantic to find her way out. Her lungs burned with the need to breathe. She couldn't hold on much longer.
The wyrm lurched and Aliisza pitched backward, falling. She bumped against something that did not feel like spongy stomach. It felt like… cloth. And a belt. Someone else was inside the dragon with her.
Kaanyr.
Or Zasian. Maybe both of them.
Do something! she wanted to scream. Spots began to swim before her blind eyes, and the blood pounding in her ears was growing deafening. Everything burned. Her skin was on fire. Perhaps she hadn't brought enough
