Blood on Sand

SMELL A RAT

Zoe heard a scratching sound, but his eyelids were too heavy to lift. Were they back? Maybe he'd dozed off for longer than he'd thought. It definitely sounded like claws against the stone-tiled floor. He really, really detested himself for not being able to fight the cold. He wanted to get up, but his limbs hardly moved on the first try. With a shake of his head, he tried to rid it of the fog in there. Lizards weren't made for northern climates, that was for sure; at least not his kind of lizard.

He forced his eyes open, now quite sure he heard one set of booted footsteps and one set of clawed. His heart rate picked up. Unless Wojtek was partially shifted, he and Satul stayed in the same shape—either they changed or stayed human. Zoe guessed it was a communication thing—hard to understand a monster when you yourself were in human form.

His legs wouldn't obey. With a painstaking effort, he managed to get himself up on all fours and then up on his knees. He couldn't see clearly, but there were definitely movements on the other side of the wine cellar's barred gate. His heart quickened; they were usually talking by now. Satul never stayed quiet for long.

It was impossible to see any details, but he thought it was one upright, human person, and one animal. He swayed and cursed under his breath. That wasn't a werewolf. It was smaller than that, but not by much. It looked like a bear, a stocky thing on short legs. Did they have bears living here? He really hoped this was someone Wojtek knew, someone that should be here.

They still didn't talk, well obviously the bear didn't talk, but the man didn't either. Zoe's uneasiness increased with every step they took in his direction. He became more and more convinced that they really shouldn't be here. If only Wojtek would come back. Any second now would be excellent.

There was some jingling, and Zoe realised to his horror that they had keys. Where the hell had strangers got keys? His heart pounded in his chest. He couldn't fight a bear, not even under normal circumstances. He forced himself to get his feet under him. His legs shook, but he braced himself for the next push. In one slow, unsteady motion he managed to get up into a standing position and leaned against the wall, panting. He needed to wake up. He really needed to wake up! Still gasping from the exertion, he tried to change.

It didn't work.

The key turned in the lock and Zoe's rib cage shrank. He tried to breathe properly, tried to back away from the door, but he couldn't move. The screeching sound of the iron gate once again filled the room. How could he have thought that he would be safe locked up in here? He would kill Wojtek for making him this weak. He tried again to change, but it still didn't work. There wasn't even a spark of change.

"There," the human-looking person said and pointed at Zoe. Zoe flicked his tongue even though he knew it wouldn't make any difference. He couldn't smell with his tongue when he was in human form. He really wanted Wojtek to come home now.

The animal came nearer. It had an oily brown fur and looked like a giant weasel, or something. The growl coming from it made Zoe jump. There were some serious teeth on that thing, that's for sure. Shit, did they have monsters like that living up here? Where were his monsters? He wouldn't mind seeing all three of them right about now.

"Just go with him. It'll be easier that way." Zoe stared at the man as if he was out of his mind—which he probably was, considering he hung out with giant weasels fit for a freaking nightmare.

He held out a bunch of keys. "Could you take these? I was supposed to bring them back, but I'm not going to. I'm not going back there."

Zoe's fingers closed around the keys, why he didn't know. His brain wasn't awake enough to grasp what was happening, but standing this close to the man, he realised he knew who it was. Not by name—you didn't get friendly with people you might end up having to kill—but he was one of the lizardmen from the slave quarters. Zoe tried to remember, but all he could come up with was that he turned into a blue-hued one.

"What's going on?"

"Sorry, man. I need to get going. The rat is going to take you somewhere." There was another growl behind him, and Zoe felt the hair on his neck stand straight up. The man shrugged. "I don't know anything. Not saying I would've helped you if I did—each to their own and all of that."

"Yeah." Zoe clenched the keys. "He's going to let you go?"

"Said so on the way over here when I said I wasn't going back to return the keys. If not, you'll see me turned into rat food right here. I'm not going back, no matter what."

Zoe recognised the determination in his voice—it was the same he'd felt a week ago, sitting on his knees in the pit waiting for Wojtek to kill him. "Okay, good luck." And he meant it. He didn't plan on going anywhere with the rat either—Zoe knew it wasn't a rat, but the name fit. He just needed the lizardian out of here so he could figure out what to do.

"Stay warm," the man said before turning tail and leaving Zoe alone with the giant weasel.