Page 35 of Cold Hearted
I watched the rondak’s thick fingers, which ended in talons, twitch as he slept.
Swallowing hard, I locked the door behind me and prayed this wasn’t how I died. Then I leapt onto the bed, straddling the creature, and in less than a second my sunstone dagger slid across the rondak’s neck.
Sparks flew as metal connected with his hardened scales.
Oh no.
The beast’s eyes popped open. Slitted pupils filled with rage focused in on me and then he erupted into action, throwing me across the room and into the wall. A yelp of pain and surprise left my throat as my head snapped back, connecting with the unyielding stone hard enough to make me see stars before I crumpled to the floor.
I blinked to clear my suddenly blurred vision and struggled to my feet. What sheer strength this creature had. The rondak was coming for me and he looked pissed. His roar of anger was loud enough to vibrate in my chest, and as he reached me I tried to duck out of the way, but my reflexes were still recovering. His meaty hand clamped around my neck, talons sinking into my tender flesh and causing a stream of blood to drip down my throat.
I tried to pry his fingers off, while I gripped my weapon in my other hand, refusing to let it go as he raised me into the air by the neck.
“Youdaretry to kill me in my sleep!” he shouted in my face, his voice as deep and guttural as I would have expected it to be. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t send a bolt of terror ripping through me. Tendrils of smoke curled in the air between us as he slammed me back against the stone wall. “I’ll rip your entrails out and feast on them.”
No, that wasn’t happening. Plan one was a bust. I wasn’t able to kill him in his sleep, so it was time to go to plan two: hand-to-hand battle where I would try to stick this dagger somewhere that would make him bleed to death. But whatever I did next I had to move quickly. My limbs were already starting to feel heavy from lack of oxygen and blood loss.
Gathering my strength, I swung my dagger up, stabbing it through the arm that held me captive. The blade sank into flesh and the rondak growled in pain.
Thank the stars not all of him was scaled.
As soon as his grip on my throat loosened, I pulled the dagger free and curled my legs, kicking out and connecting with his chest, sending him sailing back onto his bed.
Yes! One point for Dawn.
Landing in a crouch, I adjusted the grip on my dagger so I could use it more like a sword than a short blade, switching the dynamics of our fight. I didn’t want those sharp talons to get anywhere near me again. Even now I could feel the wounds in my neck weeping, wetting my shirt with blood.
The rondak regained his footing, and something that might have been a smile spread over his face, making it look even more terrifying and grotesque than before.
“I’m going to enjoy making you scream,” he taunted. “A little thing like you doesn’t have much meat on her bones, but I’ll take my time stripping the flesh from you while you’re still alive. Savoring each bite.”
Enough of his talk. I now had wounds I’d need to tend to sooner rather than later so that they could heal properly, and I still had to escape the castle. With the amount of noise we were making, it was only a matter of time before some of his troops busted in on us.
“Before the night is over you’ll be begging me—”
I rushed him, wanting this done and over with.
His head and neck were protected by his scales, so I aimed for his heart, which looked to have a patch of skin that lacked scales, knowing that my dagger couldn’t penetrate those. I was an excellent swordsman—each of my strokes and attacks were perfectly executed—but the rondak was able to fend off every one of my assaults with his hands alone. Sparks flew every time my blade connected with his talons, and my efforts weren’t wielding much more than a few shallow cuts here and there across his forearms as he blocked me.
It was time to try another tactic. I lifted one hand, flashing a bit of my sunlight magic to confuse him. It seemed to work; his attention swung to my hand, the look of shock on his face bringing me joy. I took advantage of the momentary distraction and dropped low, thrusting my weapon up. The tip of my blade sank into his flesh right under his ribs, and I shoved it higher in the direction of where I assumed his heart was, delivering a killing blow.
The rondak staggered back with my dagger still embedded in his side. He stared down at the blade with a look of disbelief that quickly morphed into rage. Rather than falling to the ground like I expected, he grabbed the hilt of my weapon and pulled it out of him with a roar of fury. As he tossed the sunstone dagger to the other side of the room I heard shouts from behind the locked bedroom door, letting me know my time was running out.
How was he still alive?
Maybe he didn’t have a heart. The thought was horrifying.
Plan three it is, I thought as I lifted my hands, gathering my power within me.
His eyes glowed like twin embers, a thick black smoke billowed from his nostrils and mouth with each exhale. Zander had warned me he could breathe fire. That was one power I could go without seeing firsthand, so before he got a chance to use it on me I released my own magic. This time I funneled it into a thin, focused beam, lasering my sunlight right at his head.
My beam of sunlight smacked him right in the face, making him stagger backward.
Just die already, I thought. I did not expect the rondak to be this hard to kill.
I knew I had to up the intensity, but that was dicey. I couldn’t afford to deplete myself like I had the night I saved Zander from the voidspawn. I still had to flee the castle and city. If I passed out here, I wouldn’t survive the night.
The rondak rushed me, and with a scream I pulled more of my power, shooting it at him all at once. It hit the man-beast like an explosion and finally,finally, he dropped to the floor right at my feet.
