The Bloodstone Prophecy - Book 2 (complete)

Chapter 30 - Wax Lake

"No!" Liam screamed, straining against his ropes with every bit of strength he possessed. He watched helplessly as Layla and Yasmin struggled against the wax.

The Shadow Queen swept up the ramp flanked by the majority of her guards, leaving only a few behind. Liam watched their receding forms, then looked back to the Wax Lake. The wax had coated Yasmin and Layla completely. They were barely moving now.

He looked at Gedo's face. The man was clearly in agony. He could just imagine the torment he must be going through. His eyes searched for any other prisoners, but he saw none. At least it appeared Kami hadn't been captured. He hoped she hadn't been taken prisoner.

Suddenly the guard who had brought in Gedo whirled and punched out one of his own men. One of the guards standing near Liam raised a gun, but before he could pull the trigger, Gedo pulled a gun from the belt of the guard who had brought him in and shot the guard. Gedo then pointed his weapon at the third guard.

"Don't move!" he ordered.

Liam's eyes flicked from person to person as he struggled to understand. Gedo had been bound. He'd been sure of it. He'd seen the ropes securing his hands when he'd walked down the ramp.

His eyes flicked back to where the other two guards grappled. One of them punched the other in the face, knocking his beret off. That's when he recognized his friend. Haji was here? He had been Gedo's guard? If he hadn't been so distracted earlier, he might have noticed. Then again, he never would have imagined Gedo's capture was all a deception.

"Haj!" Liam cried. His attention turned back to the lake where the women floated in the wax, no longer moving.

"Go! Get them out of the lake," Liam yelled, twisting this way and that, cursing the ropes that bound him. His efforts yielded him nothing but rope burns over the oozing welts that covered his arms and chest.

The giant shadow cat that had nearly trapped him in the cave was moving toward him now. He shuddered to think of his hand encased in wax. This was infinitely worse. Haji and Gedo were too distracted with their own fight to notice. The longer they fought, the less likely they were to get Yasmin and her grandmother out of there.

"Down kitty," Liam said, his voice unsteady. "Good kitty. Get back."

The shadow jaguar kept coming.

He looked around desperately and spied the whip at Haji's belt.

"Haji, use your whip. Hurry."

The cat was directly in front of him now and Liam was helpless to do anything about it.

The guard fighting Haji lost his balance and nearly tumbled into the wax lake. Haji grabbed the man's hand and pulled him forward, then promptly twisted him around and tied his hands behind his back. He turned toward Liam and put his hand to the whip, then impossibly, he dropped his hand.

"You're okay," Haji called.

"Are you stupid? No I'm not okay? This thing is about to bite my leg off."

"No, it's not. It's on our side," he said, then turned his back on him to focus on pulling Yasmin and Neina out of the lake. They weren't struggling anymore, just floating wax figures.

The shadow cat was in his face now, sniffing him. Liam stood very still. Could it be true? Was it possible that Chris had figured out how to tame them?

"Easy boy," Liam whispered. "So 'ol Chris figured out how to do it, huh? Can you help me with these ropes?"

The cat lifted its sharp claws, and Liam winced as they easily sliced the rope binding him to the slab. He hadn't realized he'd been holding his breath, and he let it out in a gasp.