Page 64 of Beneath the Veil of Tides
“The God of the Forsaken,” the Writherbought chided. Its raspy voice snaked through the air like a serpent. The words repeated with an echo, each sound cut short and staccato. “It is notyourpower that draws me in.”
I held my breath, begging my pounding heart to join the silence of the forest. If the beading sweat along my forehead dropped, every creature would hear it crash into the crisped foliage below.
The Writherbought went on.
“Did you expect me not to sense your Blood Tie mere meters away?”
“How did you escape the prison?” Noctis interrupted, the air humming in response to the mention of me. When I was involved, the composed, wry mask Noctis normally wore fell in heaps, leaving only wrath.
“Hmm,” the creature purred. “How about an answer for an answer?”
“I don’t play games,” Noctis rumbled, and the ground shook with his words. More leaves shuffled and crunched under weight, and I was sure the god advanced for an attack.
“We have insight that tells us otherwise,” the Writherbought drawled lightheartedly. “So, let’s try again. Answer for an answer.”
“Who is ‘we’?”
A dry laugh broke out, startling unseen birds into flight. “Oh, you know the answer.”
But I didn’t.
The ancient creature enjoyed a power play with Noctis. I could hear it in the cheery, raspy notes it spoke—and Noctis fell right into its wicked trap.
“Let’s play. I can hear your heartbeat. It sounds eager to join the game for answers.”
“No,” Noctis growled.
“A pity really. You’ll never hear how I slipped my chains—nor the name of the one who cut them.”
A gust of power slithered and sizzled along my mouth, burning as it masked my yelp. The rotten smell emanating from the band turned my stomach, and I freed my hand from the tree branch to clasp at it. Only for my fingers to fall straight through the restriction. I clawed at the bind, yet nothing fell from my face. The yell for help twisted into a measly whimper as if my vocal cords were clipped and unusable.
The Writherbought was proving it knew where I hid.
“I’ll order you once more,” Noctis seethed to the creature. “Tell me how you escaped and who freed you.”
He has no idea I’m being attacked.
The creature’s power burned through my skin, ripping tears down my face that sizzled and evaporated along the band of searing magic. The agony spread with unstoppable force,covering my ankles and wrists. They clamped together, tying my joints together atop the tree branch.
I writhed, but nothing came of it.
“You know him very well,” the creature's voice slid through the air like stones scraping down a mountainside.
It was still meters away, yet its control on me was fierce.
The creature realized it stumped Noctis.
“Godsire. Godsire.” The word scratched my ears. I heard it far away, then right in my face. Then, the word repeated in my other ear.
“Godsire.”
“Godsire.”
“Godsire.”
It repeated—over and over—each in a different location. What started as a whisper then amplified as a scream, tearing at my eardrums. Blood trickled down my face, but I couldn’t wipe it away in the constriction of the creature's power.
Energy burst through the forest, instead of resistance, my body settled into it before my mind caught up. Noctis’s magic. It rippled in a massive surge, and the creature’s repeating word halted.
