Regicide

Chapter 13

Sand.

Dune sniffed the air, her scent strong.

You are here.

The sun had long set. The only light came from a beautiful moonless sky, where one of the Milky Way's spiral arms slashed through, leaving a smatter of beautiful stars in its wake. Even in such low light conditions, Dune was able to see with his big eyes. Velociraptor eyes were well adapted for seeing in the dark, much of hunting in fact was done at night. To Dune, time did not matter. When the opportunity to kill one of the traitors presented itself, he took it, whether it was light or dark.

Dune looked around silently, scanning the area. There was no sign of his victim anywhere- only her scent.

He heard the lightest of footsteps coming towards him. Quickly, he turned, and saw a blur of beige pounce at him, jaws open. They grabbed onto his throat, and he fell, pinned to the ground. He looked at the green eyes, recognising them instantly.

'Stand down,' she growled, his neck still in her jaws. Her hold on him was firm, but not painful. 'I have—'

Dune instantly thrust his claws into the side of her neck. She fell off of him and onto her side, somewhat dazed. She had no time to recover before Dune stabbed his toe-claw into her chest, narrowing his eyes at her.

Sand winced as she felt pain pulse in her torso. Her chest rose against Dune's weight, though she could feel his foot pressing strongly against her, trying to prevent her breathing. She grabbed his leg in her arms and pulled it away, snarling, while Dune tumbled down to the ground and fell against her. She pushed him away, and quickly put her arm around his neck in a chokehold.

Dune thrashed furiously, his tail whipping. Sand found herself unable to speak- she had to concentrate on subduing him first. Dune felt her arm like a bone crushing against his throat. His jaws opened slightly and he released a small wheeze. Desperately he tried to breathe, yet Sand tightened her grip and no air was sucked into his windpipe.

'I don't want to kill you,' Sand growled through gritted teeth, though Dune could not hear her. Blood rushed to his ears like a flash flood, overwhelming every other noise. He clutched her arm tightly, yet it barely budged.

With bulging eyes, his pupils darted around, frantic to find something to get him out of the hold.

Aha! There, within arms reach, lay a jagged stone he could use. Grimacing in pain, he stretched out, baring his teeth in determination. He grabbed it in his hand, and quickly, he smashed it against his attacker's face, snarling angrily. He heard her cry out in pain, and she let go of him instantaneously. The pressure around his throat lifted away.

He turned and jumped at her, satisfied by the blood running down her face and the chipped red teeth in her mouth. Using his muscular legs, he kicked her in the chest, his sickle claw stabbing her upper torso for just a moment before she fell backwards, blood spurting from her breast.

The surge of excitement consumed him. He had the upper hand now- heart racing, he smashed his foot down onto her soft stomach and pierced through her soft flesh with his talons. She cried out in pain, and he only pushed his claws in harder. There was a crack, and he realised that he had broken her spine.

Watching her stop and grimace in pain brought what was his equivalent to the feeling of satisfaction. She was utterly helpless now that her back was broken- she could not move anything below her torso. But what happened next made him, for the first time, stop and think and question if killing this victim was necessary.

'Dune!' She winced. 'I have information!'

He stopped for a moment. His eyes were on her, still and eerie. She saw that the dark raptor of hatred was listening.