Ryan maintained the grip, but his arm was shaking with the strain. Joe stopped trying to pull away, and his left hand swatted down for Ryan’s right, lying bent and numb at his waist.
Joe’s fingers closed over the ripped, bloody flesh of his wrist, over the shattered bone. He squeezed, twisted and yanked.
It wasn’t pain that flooded up Ryan’s arm to take possession of his body and mind. It was a hellish wave of indescribable agony, crashing over him, blotting out everything, even the blazing green glow.
Dimly he heard an animal howl of pain and he realized it had burst from his own lips. He wasn’t even aware of his fingers slackening, of his body sagging to the floor. His entire body seemed to literally fly apart.
The pressure on his wrist eased, the wave of agony drew back and his senses returned in a piecemeal fashion. His arms and legs were back where they belonged, and so was his eye, and there was Joe, leaning over him, face a blood-smeared mask of savage satisfaction.
” Huen, iciante mawaste ,” he crooned through mashed lips.
He was fumbling at Ryan’s hip, and distantly, as though he were watching a not very interesting play, it occurred to him Joe was seeking to draw his panga, the better to cut his throat.
Then Joe’s body lurched, his eyes flying wide, flicking down to stare in horrified incredulity at the spear haft that projected from his upper right chest, the slim column of wood standing up at a forty-five-degree angle from just below his collarbone. His hands came up and wonderingly traced the pattern of rawhide thongs wrapped around it.
Sisoka’s strong, clear voice carried through the cavern. ” Taku ehe kin ekta’ Unci !”
Swiveling his head slightly, looking up, Ryan saw her standing atop the ziggurat, in front of the enthroned cadaver. She had hurled one of the old decorative lances through the veil of shimmering light. Her face was tearstained, enraged, grief stricken all at the same time. She was shrieking something about breaking vows to the Grandmother.
Joe made a convulsive effort to stand. The thick pain-fog in Ryan’s mind was scattered by an eruption of fury, the old homicidal rage that always waited in a corner of his subconscious to jump in and take over.
His left hand shot up, closed around the spear haft, heaved up on it. Joe screamed, and Ryan got his legs under him and rose to a crouch. Holding the spear as if it were a fulcrum, Ryan pushed up on it, forcing himself to stand, struggling to attain his full height. He heard flesh and muscle tear, wood grating against bone, even over Joe’s shrieks.
The Lakota’s moccasined feet scrabbled on the slick lip of the well, failing to gain a purchase on the polished gold and silver. Ryan hooked the wooden shaft above his left elbow and lifted, raising Joe completely clear of the rim, like a buffalo-hump steak impaled on a skewer. His legs kicked at empty air, as if he were running in place.
Ryan took one lunging step forward and, overbalanced, fell. He dropped the spear haft, and Joe vanished into the fountain of light.
No scream, no sound of impact came up out of that dancing pillar of cold fire. The light shifted, shimmering, the colors sliding from yellow to orange, then to a deep, deep red.
Ryan lifted his face from the gold-and-silver plates and snarled, “Give my regards to Grandma, you triple-stupe bastard.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
The arrow was planted deep in Krysty’s chest, right below her heart. Her breathing was harsh and shallow, and her eyes didn’t open.
“Will she live?” Ryan asked, oblivious to the blood dropping from the nerveless fingers of his right hand.
Mildred didn’t answer. She was grimly probing the flesh around the sprouting shaft.
“Will she live?” he demanded, louder.
Krysty’s eyes flicked open. “Yes,” she said, and closed them.
Only Ryan and Krysty had suffered wounds in the fight. Blood-sniffer was dead, and Ryan found himself mourning the great gray wolf as he would a human friend. He didn’t allow himself to dwell on the loss. Though racked with pain, he kept his mind focused on Krysty’s condition.
Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117