Castle of Time and Ash

CHAPTER LV

CHAPTER LV

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Unconsciousness threatened to rid him of his advantage on the beast's back as Valentine gripped the creature's greasy hair, cringing at the oil that rubbed onto his palms. The beast writhed and shrieked underneath him, swinging itself into the already-dented walls and creating crevices larger than Valentine's desk with the crown of its head, dangerously close to where he was now perching. He had managed to ease himself downward whenever the stone met the creature to avoid getting crushed between the two monstrous forces, but it was always a struggle getting himself back into his normal position, especially with the creature wriggling and twisting and hurling itself at anything in its way.

Althera's wrecked and disfigured body was yards away from them, and he was glad of it. After finally regaining his senses and finding a sword both long enough and strong enough to inflict a considerable amount of damage on the creature, he had dug the blade into the creature's extended claw and somehow made his way onto the creature's back – or shoulders, he wasn't sure –afterward. His body hurt all over, and he was still clinging onto the beast's hair for his life, straddling its neck as it now shook its head from side to side. The room revolved around him in a hazy mess of blood and wood and stone, Valentine feeling the contents in his stomach churn uncomfortably with each rocking motion.

His memory was still faint and unclear but stored enough knowledge to let him know Zephyra was working with the beast he was trying to get under control, and the beast he was now trying to get under control wanted something from Althera, whatever it was.

An ear-splitting growl pierced the air around them and, overriding all the other sounds. He didn't know where Zephyra was, but he prayed she was still stuck on the other side of the tattered chandelier and hadn't found a way to get around to Althera. The creature whipped its head back and Valentine had only just enough time to slide down before part of the fireplace crashed down onto the spot he had occupied seconds ago, an avalanche of stone and wood. Dust from all the debris shielded his face but he wasn't given the opportunity to swipe it all away before the beast barreled into another wall, already cratered and shaped to fit the beast's head.

"Humans!" Valentine thought he heard the beast roar as it unfurled and fired itself straight at the window.

His grasp on the creature's hair slackened and he dropped down, an arm over his head to shelter him from the rain of nicked slivers of glass, sharp sides coursing down his back, indenting his back. He heard himself cry out before the beast lifted its colossal head and pushed itself further outward, taking Valentine with it.

There was no sound in his ears except the rushing of wind that stroked his skin as he felt himself slip down the scaly neck of the giant creature, down its scarred cheek, and then to its jaw, cut and bruised from previous battles it had no doubt won, devouring its enemy whole afterward. Valentine's fingernails slashed at the reptilian skin, grappling for anything to grab to stop his tumble. He didn't dare look downward at whatever lay at his feet as his hand hooked around something pointed and crooked.

The creature's vicious snarl shuddered through him as his finger found the tip of its left tooth, yellow and black and overflowing of ridges and holes. He tried not to feel sick as saliva, a repugnant grayish green, dribbled down his bare arm and shoulder, stopping just to the side of his chin, sticky and wet. The creature's eyes, milky and unblinking, looked down at him, something in the way it thinned matching the horrendousness of its scowl.

It shook its shaggy mane, and the world around Valentine buzzed and quivered. The wind that combed through his hair was mocking; the glance of greenery surrounding him was teasing. The sky, an azure blue too bright and cheerful and lively for a day like this, was the only thing that gazed down at him with pity he wasn't certain whether he wanted.