Forever Captive

Chapter 8

The naga finally does return to consciousness after its tail somehow found itself surrounding me once again, squeezing me tight enough to keep my breaths shorter than usual. When its eyes open, yellow in alarm, it instantly lets go of me with a seemingly apologetic hiss.

I smile slightly and pull away, "One and a half days. You probably feel a bit strange, still, and that's alright."

"You didn't eat." The naga gruffly answers as it blinks its third eyelid rapidly, looking at the now slightly bruised and slowly rotting fruit that still lay near the weapons.

I sigh slightly, "I didn't need to, and I was far more concerned about making sure that you stayed warm and alive."

Its eyes instantly seem to turn something close to grey in the meager sunlight and I frown slightly, "You're probably dehydrated, but I don't have a way to get water. I didn't exactly want you to wake up to my absence, either."

The purr-like hiss returns as the naga wraps its arms around me with a very familiar yet controlled strength, gently whispering, "Warmth."

I smile softly and lean back in its arms slightly, "I feel like water should come first."

"No." It growls out and holds me tighter still, its tongue flicking against my neck. I shiver at the sensation out of reflex, somehow registering it as a new sensation after only a day and a half. 

It seems to tense up slightly but I press my hands against its chest, replaying and organizing the thoughts I have routinely had resurface throughout its stint of an induced coma, "I have a few questions for you. We've been in rather close quarters for days, but I still don't know much about you."

There seems to be a hesitant hiss near my ear, but the groggy reptile still doesn't say anything. I continue quietly, "Do you have a name? And are you male or female?"

It answers with a deep, somewhat pleased hiss that seems to alternate slightly in sound. If that's its name, I sure as hell can't pronounce it. I sit in silence for a moment before it huffs.

"Aska." It hisses against my skin, sending yet another shiver down my spine, "I am male."

He does have a name. It took quite a while for introductions, didn't it? I lean against his chest with a soft sigh, "I'm Victor. In case you were... worried, there were a few footsteps above us but nobody seemed to notice or search for the hole. I think they figured out what works on you, now. They'll be gone in... just a few more days, I think. It might be smarter to wait them out."

Aska hisses threateningly against me with the familiar deep growl, "More will only return."

"They will, but I don't think there's a way to prevent that, unless..." I start to explain myself but pause, my mind racing with each plan that always has some level of possible issue for this innocent, rather gentle creature. He's being threatened and his resources, knowing those men, are also being hunted in favor of fresh meat rather than the rehydratable rations I made sure they were supplied with. They probably think I'm either dead or trapped, considering that it has been over a week now. I am trapped, I suppose. They wouldn't be wrong about that.

Then again, they probably already know that I have no fear of pain. I'd leave a predator if I was able to, even if it meant dropping a limb or two. The naga is intelligent. He isn't merely a predator, nor do I get the feeling that he is deliberately keeping my leg broken. It seems more likely that he doesn't understand my fragility and, for some reason, refuses to hurt me.

"Victor?" Aska hesitantly hisses, "'Unless?'"

"I... might be able to convince the humans to never come back." I'm good at impressions, but I've really only heard Mr. Davis speak and... to be honest, I don't remember his first name. I just... need more time for a better plan. I don't have more time.

His eyes slowly turn as yellow as the sun, seemingly battling between that ashy grey and alarmed yellow. He finally hisses against my skin, repeating the same phrase he seems to love, "You will not leave."

I sigh and push against him enough that I have a little room to breathe from his now warm body. I make the mistake of raising my voice to a normal volume, my words echoing in the empty and damp chamber, "I will not put your home and life in jeopardy just because you have some sympathy for my relationship with humankind. You can't be alone on this island, right? There are more of you. You are that willing to jeopardize their lives, too? Aska, I am dangerous to you. My immortality, my standing in the human world, the fact that I came at all... It can all get you killed for confining me to what I realize now is your home. Please, let me go."

I need to fix this mess. I picked the wrong assistant and was stupid enough to believe he holds similar ideals to mine. He "admired" my published work, did he not? 

"I do not need protection." The naga states, his voice even louder than mine as red clouds the yellow out, the grey seemingly gone.

"Everything does." I snort, pulling away further, "I have seen very little of this island or any of the plants or animals that inhabit this place, but all of it needs protection. Killing all of them won't work. Letting them leave with their knowledge of your existence won't work. I am a fragile, broken, enslaved beast. Let me at least try to break free from those bonds, Aska."

My pleas fall on deaf ears in his regard, but they seem to reach another's. One that shouldn't be out at midnight like this. He's favored dawn and dusk, so why is he now running above us?

Mr. Davis shouts with a mixture of hope and desperation, "Dr. Moore? Dr. Moore, where are you? Can you hear me? Yell! Shout! Tell me where that monster is!"

I freeze against Aska as I snuff my own breath out, staring expectantly at the naga in the hope that he will notice my eyes jerking to the water for his escape. He uncoils rapidly and lets out a deep, aggressive hiss as his eyes fall deeper into that wine red.

There's rustling of plants above us and I notice a pebble and sand get kicked down from the edge of the moonlit hole that leads to the ground level. A flashlight's beaming rays flick down the hole and land directly on my skin, illuminating me against the dark stone.

Fuck.