When she was just thirty yards from the island’s rocky shore, one of the birds noticed her. The flapping of wings announced the attack, giving her just enough advance notice to shout a warning to Dourado before plunging her head under the water. Then, her left leg seemed to catch on fire.
Because she had been prepared for an attack of some kind, she was able to clench her teeth and push through the pain. She kept swimming under the surface, clawing through the water with her hands, expecting more razor sharp beaks or claws to tear into her. There were no more attacks, but her leg was throbbing so badly that the mere act of trying to kick made her feel like throwing up.
Her hands scraped against something, and she looked up, cautiously raising her head. She had reached the island. “Cintia?” she gasped, barely able to get the words out. “Still with me?”
There was a splash beside her as Dourado broke the surface. Strings of cobalt hair were plastered to her face, but she seemed none the worse for wear. “We made it,” she said.
Gallo glanced up at the sky overhead. It was clear, with most of the birds fully involved in the attack on the Cerberus men, but she knew that could change at any moment. “Give me a hand, Cintia. I can’t walk.”
Dourado let out a low wail of dismay. “Ai! There are things stuck in your leg. Should I pull them out?”
Pull them out? Will that make me bleed to death? She couldn’t think straight. “Just get me to the city.”
Dourado nodded and put an arm around Gallo’s waist, helping her onto the rocky slope. She glanced down at her leg, which was not as badly swollen as she would have expected given the intensity of the ache. When she craned her head around, she could just make out something protruding from the back of her thigh. It looked like a meat skewer made of translucent fiberglass.
It’s a feather, she realized, or rather the shaft of a feather with the barbs removed. She tried to grasp hold, intending to pull it free, but even light pressure sent a current of pain through her leg. She cried out and would have collapsed if not for Dourado’s support.
“Come on,” Dourado urged. She pointed forward, and Gallo remembered what it was that had brought her here. A high-walled structure with a colonnaded porch and a doorless entryway stood directly ahead. Gallo nodded, and gritting her teeth against the pain, she hobbled toward the entrance.
The beat of wings grew louder behind them. They’d been noticed. Dourado glanced back, then quickened her step, all but dragging Gallo along. The porch and the doorway beyond could not have been more than twenty yards away, but it seemed like a mile. Gallo knew she should tell Dourado to leave her and find safety, but she didn’t have the strength—physically or emotionally—to say it out loud. Dourado would probably refuse anyway. A waste of breath for both of them.
Still, if they didn’t make it…if they both died, it would be her fault. The thought made her angry, and anger provided the motivation that desperation could not. She straightened her back, bit her lip until it bled and started to run.
The noise of flapping wings built to a fever pitch as Gallo and Dourado reached the porch, but as they passed through the arched opening and threw themselves sideways into the shadows beyond, it was like someone had hit the mute button on the world. Not a single bird pursued them inside.
Disbelief gave way to relief, and while neither was a particularly good painkiller, Gallo got to her feet unassisted and limped close to the doorway’s edge. She peeked outside. The swarm had returned to the sky, or possibly gone back to their roosts.
The attack was over.
“Are we safe?” Dourado asked from behind her.
Gallo nodded. “For the moment. Eventually we’re going to have to run the gauntlet again, but for now, I think we can breathe.”
She turned back and took a look at their new surroundings. The door opened into a long hallway with several doorways leading to other parts of the building. Gallo shuffled toward the nearest opening and peered inside. The floor was covered with a thick layer of dirt, and lichen growth streaked the walls. There was no sign of a human presence aside from the structure itself. Though it was impossible to see what lay in the shadowy corners, Gallo felt certain that the room contained nothing that would shed light on the mystery of the city’s builders. This might once have been the home of the Amazon warriors, or the Sea Peoples, but it had been abandoned long ago. The former occupants had taken everything of value with them.