Devryn - "Blood
Rush"
The chained prisoner
closest to the embankment, a gaunt man dressed in sweat-stained underclothes,
danced around his platform. Whimpers and garbled words in a foreign
tongue spouted forth. Something I didn’t recognize, which was unusual. But their meaning held no mystery… prayers to
some god.
A gray streak closed
the distance in a flash. The sciver launched itself at the prisoner's
raised arm, quickly pulling the screaming man to his knees. A second and
third rushed to join in the frenzy. The cries of pain tore through the
night air.
Not wanting to be
something's evening meal, I began pulling at the large, iron pin that secured
the ankle shackles to the platform. Even with all my effort, there was
not a slight shift or twist to promise my release. With a great heave, I
started working the chains back and forth. Nothing. I leaned back
in an awkward crouch, tugging hard. Fortune may have smiled on me since
it didn't budge, because if I somehow did break loose, I probably would have
launched myself over the edge from the sudden freedom.
Hearing a giddy
laughter, I looked up as Seth's now open lock fell from his hand. He
quickly shuffled toward and into the dark tunnel, making his way into the
bowels of the tower, chains clattering with his exit. Damn that
Tres.
The prisoner's cries
changed to a gurgling sound, and then stopped. Four scivers pulled on his
flesh, pulling everything loose from the unfortunate man's open belly.
Entrails spun out and sagged off the edge of the platform. Another sciver
joined the fray, snapping at two to make way. The two backed off and
decided for another quarry.
The Tres next in
line, across from Tae-gron, started screaming at the top of his lungs at the
snarling scivers. Three more dashed onto the bridge behind them, two
without hesitation made for Tae. The last was closing in on me, fast.
Tae-gron didn't
hesitate to meet the first leaping sciver in midair, grabbing at the
beast. In the darkness, the two became one. Tae-gron grunted,
pushing the other attacking sciver off the platform to the rocky ground below
with the body of the first.
I quickly spun the
chain between the wrist manacles around my left forearm, just in time to take
the lunging bite of the third. The teeth bit deep, hard onto the links.
I could feel them crush down from the pressure as it shook its head in a
growling rage, pinching the flesh underneath. Part of the bite was making
its way through when the sciver let go, blood ran down my wrist and fingers.
As it scrambled back,
I gave it a hard kick, a solid thud to the side. It didn't go over the
edge but was enough for it to know I wasn't planning on becoming sciver
scat. The beast ran back towards the others, yipping in a high-pitched call,
then back into the night.
Tae-gron and I
watched as the remaining scivers tore flesh and limbs from their kills for the
next few minutes before they too scampered off satiated. Sitting on his
platform, Tae-gron was still holding his dead sciver, I could faintly see him
smiling with delight.
"Tae, you good
over there?"
"Yeah. The
gods deemed that I should have a pillow tonight." Tae-gron, a man of
few words. Couldn't ask for a better condemned bastard to share the
bridge with.
The remainder of the
night was spent in constant fear of their return. Any small noise quickly
woke me from my lethargic daze, eyes scanning for any threats.
I stared into the
veiled darkness of the tunnel to see if Seth was coming back.
Nothing. But I guess I could not blame him.
Tae-gron and I were
the last two alive on the bridge. The first prisoner was a complete
mess. His upper body was missing while the remnants were strewn across
the platform, intestines dangled like vines from the edge. The other lay
in a pool of his own blood.
The frightful night
crept to a close. The sun peaked over the distant mountains, giving color
to the valley floor. Red was the color.
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