Ander - Part 1: Subchapter 25
25
- and pulled as hard as she could, falling backwards, taking the monster with her.
It stepped back, trying desperately to maintain its balance.
That single click was the only warning given. The biter snapped shut around Banno's ankle, its teeth flinging water through the air in delicate arcs, a sharp contrast to the red explosion at its centre.
Banno roared. It was a sound filled not with pain, but with pure, undiluted fury. It merged with the sound of the river to create something not of this world, but something above and beneath it, encompassing all the horrors from every shadow, from every dark dream.
Kiana looked up at the behemoth towering over her, roaring at the sky with its arms splayed out and she realized...
She wasn't looking at Ander's brother anymore...
This was the Cora. The heathen god she was promised to, the god whose appetite she was meant to satisfy. It was coming for her, coming for its sacrifice!
Kiana just barely managed to roll out of the way before it came crashing down, flailing its arms, twisting its head back and forth, the tendons in its neck standing out like steel cables.
Its grotesque eyes suddenly locked onto hers, and all movement stopped.
"You..." it said, speaking through a mouth filled with blood and foam. "You... BITCH!!"
It grabbed her by the hem of her dress and started to pull her in close, dragging her across the ground.
"No, please don't!" Kiana screamed. She tried to brake with her feet, but it was no use. She slid across the slippery carpet of leaves, powerless to stop.
"You bitch!" it panted, blowing bloodbubbles from its mouth and nose "You filthy, filthy bitch!"
"Ander! Help me!" she yelled, but Ander was obviously in no condition to come to the rescue just now. He was down on all fours, struggling to breath, his left arm caked with blood all the way up to the elbow like a red glove. Every time he exhaled even more blood dribbled from the corner of his mouth and dripped into the growing puddle before him, mixing with the rainwater to form an ugly shade of pink.
He couldn't help her.
"BITCH!!"
Kiana grabbed the hem of her dress and pulled, trying to wrench it out of the monster's grasp. It ripped, leaving Banno holding nothing but a shredded piece of green fabric. Not exactly what she had in mind, but she'd take it!
She scrambled backwards, desperate to get out of reach. It made mad swipes at her, bits of her dress still stuck in its claws, mashing its teeth together menacingly.
Kiana backed up until she reached the edge of the riverbank. She could hear it raging just behind her, could feel its spray against the back of her neck, but she didn't care. All it meant was that she was safe. That thing couldn't reach her over here, not with that biter around its ankle. She was finally, finally -
Banno rolled over onto his belly and sunk his claws into the dirt. His eyes were crazed, and even though Kiana knew she couldn't be seeing what she thought she was seeing, they looked red. Just like the eyes of the Cora in that statue.
With an ungodly roar, Banno pulled himself along the ground like a snake, ripping the biter out of the earth, anchor and all.
"No..." Kiana shook her head, refusing to believe that this was still happening, that the nightmare was still going on. This was too much. It was too much! "Why are you doing this!?"
It dragged itself along the ground, single-minded in its purpose, the biter scraping a deep groove in the earth filled with blood and water. "Because... My name is Banno!" It reached for her, and there was nowhere for her to go. She was trapped.
"Ander!"
Whether given by sacrifice or taken by its own hand, the Cora would have what it was owed...
"Ander! Please -
This has been the 25th subchapter in my serial novel, "Ander". If you enjoyed it, please help keep my face un-mauled by irritable ostriches by dropping me a donation. Thank you! ^_^
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