“How did you know it was a Shelakig?” I leaned forward, trying not to picture the Naedaran manhandling my wife. She would have fought back. Had they hurt her after dragging her off?
“There aren’t that many giant scorpions in the world who can deliver this load of venom. Besides, Shelakigs are known in Otherworld. I did some work down in the Southern Wastes while I was living there, learning about toxins and magically induced illnesses, and they had a few of them there.” Mallen shook his head. “I knew that—over here—the only way to fight the toxin would be to mix antivenins. Luckily, there’s a medic I know at the local dispensary who was able to get his hands on both types and send me a few vials of each. We’ve got them on a fast drip into Chase’s body, but we can’t just overload him. I also have a countervenom spell going, but that can only handle so much of the toxin.”
“Where did it sting him?”
“That’s another stroke of luck. It managed to sting him in the leg. If it had been near his heart, he’d be dead. If it had been near his spine, he might be paralyzed.”
And with that sobering thought, we quickly told Mallen about the Naedaran and the Varcont. “This was planned, it wasn’t happenstance.”
“Like I said when I woke you up, they took her as a hostage. What better way to get what they want? And we know what they want.”
Camille looked so pale I thought she was going to faint, and at first I wondered what was going on, but then the full scope hit me. The spirit seals. We knew they were going to demand the spirit seals—what else could they want? And if that was the case . . . there was no way in hell we could give them up. If Shadow Wing managed to collect all of them—and with the ones we had, he’d be terribly close—he could begin to reassemble them and bring the worlds back together, and that would not only devastate all three realms but give him and his demonic army full access to take over Earthside and Otherworld.
Which meant we absolutely could not accede to his demands. And that meant . . . I forced myself to stop. I didn’t dare allow my thoughts to wander into dangerous territory. I choked back the panic that had begun to rise once more and brought my attention back to Yugi.
“Is there anything else we should know before we go talk to Chase?” I caught Mallen’s gaze straight on. He looked at me, and in that moment, I realized that he knew exactly what we were facing—what I was facing.
“No, I don’t think so. Except he’s a very lucky man. I think we can stem the flow of venom before it does any permanent damage. He’s had a rough go of it and he’s not fully out of the woods yet, but I believe we’ve reached a turning point. Please, don’t wear him out. Ask your questions judiciously.” And with that, he led us back to the hospital room.
As we entered the room, Chase was sitting up—or rather, his bed was propping him up. He looked weak, utterly exhausted. The nurse was checking his leg, Sharpie in hand. The thigh was horribly swollen, purple with streaks of blue and black radiating out from a very large puncture wound in the lower thigh. A thick black circle surrounded the wound, and Chase grimaced, watching as she drew another, larger circle around the first.
“The venom has radiated out again, but the rate appears to be slowing.” Mallen examined the wound. He pressed one side of the puncture wound and a stream of steaming yellow pus ejected from the puncture point, fountaining up and out. It smelled rancid, as though it had been festering for days instead of hours. Beside me, Camille and Delilah both let out a small groan and turned away.
“I know, I’m a prize cow, aren’t I?” Chase’s voice was raspy and weak, but he tried to smile.
“Shut up, Johnson. You just focus on getting better.” Even though I wanted to run over, to shake him and make him cough up any little clue that might lead us to Nerissa, my gratitude that he had tried to save her at risk of his own life outweighed my instinct.
“I’m sorry,” he wheezed. “I tried so damned hard to make them let her go.”
“You did what you could. Just tell us anything you can think of, that you didn’t tell Yugi, that might help us. Did they say anything? Did you hear anything—see anything at all?” Delilah pulled a stool over to sit by the bed. She and Chase had been an item for a while, and now they were blood-oath brother and sister.
Chase struggled to catch his breath, then closed his eyes as the IVs silently dripped into his veins. After a moment, he said, “The one who caught hold of her—the one-eyed creature . . .”
“The Naedaran?”
At that point, Vanzir entered the room. He shook his head and slipped up to stand beside Camille and Smoky.
“Yes, he said something in crude English. I know I heard him say something . . .” As he floated between waking and sleeping consciousness, it took everything I had not to urge him on in a frenzy of unhelpful cheerleading. A moment later, he opened his eyes again. “I remember. He said . . . Get her ready. The gate’s waiting, and the Saraktanas are going to guard her.”