by J. Stone
“I got this,” she told herself, quickly swiping the underside of her nose.
It was enough of a pep talk to get her to press on, into the mine. With each step, Wynonna could feel her heart beating louder in her chest. She could feel the blood flow out to her extremities in pounding pulses. Sweat poured down her brow. It collected in her palm and made it difficult to grip the gun. All the same, the corner of her lip curled up. She never felt so exhilarated. All the adrenaline pumping through her body took precedence over the fear. The sting of her skin on the back of her hand faded, and the anger she felt about her family’s death subsided. She felt free of it all.
In all her time in that vast desert wasteland, Wynonna had never hunted anything like this. True, her father had taken her and her brothers out to teach them how to track and shoot, but the dracmoloch was not something she had ever hunted, let alone seen in person. She had always doubted the lizards’ existence given how few people had seen them. But here she was, trying to kill one and without Lockhart or anyone else to help her.
Wynonna knew that he would be upset with her for leaving him behind and going in search of the lizard herself though. She could still hear his sad, quiet voice stuttering in her head, as she ventured further into the darkness of the tunnels. She heard him tell her to be more cautious, to stay by his side, to not be so eager. Regardless, doing what people told her was never her strong suit. In fact, if there was one sure fire way of getting her to do something stupid, it was to tell her not to. She enjoyed defying. People, odds, whatever. If there was a line someone expected her not to cross, she was going to leap over it, and she would enjoy every second.
That was the case in that moment too. A smile stretched across her face as she started her search for the dracmoloch. Moving down the mineshaft, Wynonna stopped at the intersection. Lockhart apparently had more attuned senses. She couldn’t smell anything like he had. What she knew though was that the tail wasn’t where she would find the dracmoloch. The lizard had abandoned it, so she’d have to check one of the other tunnels.
Picking one at random, Wynonna navigated it slowly. She held the torch out in front of her to light the way, and she gripped Lockhart’s silver and pearl revolver in the other, holding it near her gut. Creeping ever forward, Wynonna heard rocks shuffle behind her. She swung around, flailing the torch at whatever was behind her.
Nothing. She saw nothing.
“Getting a bit jumpy,” she said to herself, turning back around.
Wynonna continued forward, resolving herself to not be so easily frightened. But, then, there was the shifting of rocks behind her once again. She stopped and grimaced, not turning around yet. She just waited and listened. The sound repeated. A little closer this time. Still, she waited. The rocks shifted again - this time even closer and with less time in between. Again. The dracmoloch was behind her. She was certain of it now, but it meant to stalk her and take her down without her ever seeing it. Wynonna meant to make sure that didn’t happen.
The vespari apprentice swiveled around and ran toward the sounds. Rocks shifted once again, but this time, they did so louder and more suddenly. She’d startled the dracmoloch. Locating the origin of the sound, Wynonna tossed her torch toward it, illuminating the form of the giant lizard.
The dracmoloch stood on two feet, teetering forward due to a long neck. The reptile’s neck was so long, in fact, that it nearly matched the length of that tail it left back in the trap. Along the reptile’s neck and down its backs were a series of quills, which laid flat at first. With her torch revealing it, however, the beast squawked through its overlapping bird-like beak and caused all those previously flat quills to stand erect on its back, making it look similar to a porcupine.
Off balance by her sudden reversal, the dracmoloch bent forward, scratching the sharp talons of its hands against the dirt and rocks of the tunnel to keep from falling forward. Feathers similar to those on its severed tail appeared on its forearms, covered in the dried blood of the dead miners. The lizard scratched its feet on the ground as well, which consisted of three, thin, wide-splayed toes that curled up in the dirt and nearly managed to grasp the rocks.
The lizard’s head twisted and shook at the end of its long neck, continuing to squawk at Wynonna. The dracmoloch had a hard, domed skull surrounded by small horns, and below this dome, black, sunken eyes peered out from its sockets, while the bird like beak snapped open and shut.
No part of this lizard looked friendly, and its body appeared riddled with ways of hurting her. That it was so reclusive was a good thing, as it certainly wouldn’t have had a problem killing humans if it wanted. Wynonna, however, told herself she would manage. She wouldn’t die there - not when she had yet to get the revenge she so desperately deserved.
Wynonna raised the revolver and fired at the dracmoloch. Her aim was true, but the lizard’s scales were harder than she’d expected. The bullet ricocheted off them and took several more bounces through the cave, luckily not rebounding back at her. The beast roared again and charged her with that hard-domed head. Wynonna took another shot, but this one bounced off the very skull that was coming straight for her. Having time for one last shot, she aimed lower, hitting the dracmoloch’s leg.
This final bullet proved enough to penetrate the smaller scales on its leg, and the shot wounded the lizard. The beast diverted somewhat in its trajectory toward her, and Wynonna managed to sidestep out of its skull’s path. The neck, however, still swiped into her, knocking her into the wall of the cave and pricking her with those raised quills. The dracmoloch, meanwhile, plummeted forward and fell, losing its balance.
Unable to catch her breath after slamming into the wall, Wynonna tried to move but found it difficult. She didn’t think the lizard had managed to break anything; it had just winded her. Panic flooded her all the same. She struggled to get up and take aim again, but she felt as though her limbs were full of jelly.
The dracmoloch found its footing better than her in a larger shaft of the tunnel and turned around to face her. Once more, it wasted no time and charged at her, squawking through that bird beak again. Wynonna fired a fourth shot, but the hard scales merely reflected the bullet as they had before. The lizard neared her once again, and she had to dodge out of the way. She was less lucky in the endeavor this time, as the talons on its hand caught her leg. Wynonna felt the flesh tear away, and she fell to the ground.
The dracmoloch kept running until it found another larger section of the cave where it could turn around. Despite the pain in her leg, Wynonna watched this action, realizing she had a slight advantage in those caves. Due to its long neck and lack of balance without its tail, the lizard had trouble turning around in the narrow shafts of the mine. Maybe she could use that to her advantage. With only two bullets left in the chamber, she had to try something new.
Standing up, Wynonna growled at the pain in her leg and turned away from the dracmoloch, running through the mineshaft. Along the way, she stopped to grab her torch that she’d thrown, nearly falling in the process. After she had it, she continued to hobble forward. Looking back, Wynonna saw the dracmoloch pursuing her and easily gaining on her. Focusing ahead, she spotted a side shaft and darted inside there. The lizard wasn’t able to turn in time and ran past her with stomping steps. She could hear it turn around further on and make its way back though. Wynonna only had a few seconds to think before she had to act.
Looking around the tunnel she’d taken, she discovered it wasn’t an ideal place to have picked. The shaft was a dead end. She had nowhere left to run in that direction. It was narrow though, meaning the dracmoloch would have difficulty moving around in there. She would still have to find a way to maneuver despite the talons, thick neck, and snapping beak though.
Aside from being a dead end, the shaft she’d selected was full of mining equipment. Tools, machinery, and a few crates sat haphazardly amongst the dirt and rock of the cave. Jamming the torch into a slot in the cave wall, Wynonna went to inspect what was inside the crates. Pryin
g off the wooden lid, narrow red tubes with wicks at their top looked up at her. Dynamite.
Though her idea was reckless and stupid, she didn’t care. Wynonna grabbed a stick and ran. She tucked the dynamite under her belt and grabbed the torch on her way out of the little alcove, being sure to hold it away from the explosive stick. Getting into the main tunnel once more, she spotted the dracmoloch charging for her yet again. She fired her last two shots, both striking below its neck and hitting its leg. One of the bullets made enough of an impact in the lizard’s limb that it slowed its pace after a squawk. This gave her enough of an opportunity to flee back toward the cave entrance.
The dracmoloch didn’t give up though, and it continued to chase her the whole way. She occasionally had to divert down other paths when it neared too close to her, using its inability to turn against it. After winding through the mine, Wynonna eventually made it outside with a slight lead on the lizard.
Panting, she slid the revolver under her belt, grabbing the dynamite instead. Turning around, she saw the dracmoloch nearing the exit, so Wynonna lit the wick with the torch and tossed it into the mine. She then continued to run, jumping behind a large rock. The blast exploded from the mineshaft, sending bits of rocky debris and chunks of the lizard throughout the miners’ camp.
When the dust finally cleared, Wynonna stood up and walked back to the now caved in entrance. The head and portions of the dracmoloch’s long neck had survived the explosion, but the layers of the fallen rubble buried the rest of its body. She approached it and prodded the head with her foot, as if to ensure the dismembered lizard really was dead. Relieved that it was, Wynonna grinned, flopped to the ground in front of it, and laughed, just happy to have survived the experience.
“Wild,” she said in an exhausted voice.
***
The beldams took their fill of him again before releasing his mind back to his body. They all had three monsters this second time, except for Alviva who used her role as leader to eat a fourth. Lockhart awoke to the smell of smoke and instinctively rose up, clearing some of it from his face. He found himself still outside the mine, but looking around, he didn’t spot Wynonna. He was inside a tent, shielded from the light of the sun.
Needing to know where his apprentice was, he crawled out from the tent and slowly got to his feet. Finding Wynonna’s rifle beside him, he picked it up as he stood. Once outside, he found Wynonna, leaning against a pile of rocks where the mine entrance had once been. Not far beside her and buried under the rubble, he spotted the remains of the dracmoloch.
Hearing him stir, Wynonna turned and informed him, “Killed it while you were napping.”
“What?” he asked, groaning and shambling forward.
“Since you were indisposed, I handled it.”
“You sh-sh-should have waited for me,” he told her, walking toward her.
Wynonna stood as well and crossed her arms. “I can take care of myself.” She kicked the dracmoloch’s dead body. “Clearly. You need to start trusting me, Cory.”
“And y-y-you need to listen. You’re n-n-not ready.”
“Oh, yeah?” she mocked, nodding to the lizard. “And this?”
“Y-y-you got lucky.”
“Yeah, that’s what happened,” she said with a roll of her eyes.
Lockhart looked down and saw his silver and pearl revolver tucked under her belt. “Give me my gun b-b-b-back,” he told her, holding out her rifle.
She shrugged and obliged, exchanging weapons with him. The vespari unlocked the chamber and flipped it forward to examine the ammunition within.
“You used all s-s-s-six bullets?” he asked, seeing none inside.
“Did what I had to,” Wynonna told him.
“I’m al-al-almost out. Did you at least f-f-f-finish carving the bullet I g-g-gave you?”
His apprentice fished the bullet from her pocket and showed it to him. “Nearly.”
Lockhart shook his head. “Finish it.”
Wynonna sighed and put the bullet back in her pocket. “Don’t get so upset. You said the guy in Missoula was going to give you more, right?”
“Not the p-p-point. It’s wasteful. B-b-besides, don’t know how m-m-m-many he has.”
“You worry too much,” Wynonna said, hitting his shoulder with her open hand. “You’re a vespari. People respect you. I’m sure they’ll pay up a good amount.”
“Mm,” Lockhart muttered. “Let’s just h-h-head back.”
***
“You’re a terrible negotiator,” Wynonna said, following Lockhart out of the general store. “One bullet and four silver slivers? That’s pathetic.”
“It’s a-a-a-all they had,” the vespari replied.
“Yeah, but you can’t even fully load the revolver.”
“And who’s f-f-fault is that?”
Wynonna folded her arms at her chest. “Yeah, but I killed it, didn’t I?”
“Mm,” he muttered. “Let’s j-j-just fill up our c-c-canteens and go.”
Wynonna shrugged and followed him to the town well. There, they each took the time to fill their canteens from the well and get a drink before heading north again. Lockhart’s apprentice stayed quiet until the town of Missoula was nothing more than a dot on the horizon behind them. She had difficulty remaining silent for too much longer though.
“So, what now?” she asked him. “How are we supposed to find the Gentleman? We haven’t seen any sign of him since we left Delamar.”
“We’ll f-f-f-find him,” Lockhart told her. “Right after the b-b-beldams.”
“You keep saying that. Every time I bring him up. I’m getting a little tired of it.”
“You n-n-need to listen. If you w-w-want to kill the revenant, then y-y-you need me. If you want m-m-me to help, y-y-you need to do what I say.”
“Yeah, well what do you say? What’s the great plan you’ve got brewing in that head of yours?”
“I’m g-g-g-going to chew more mad lotus,” he told her. “Get another v-vision.”
Wynonna frowned at him. “Poison, you mean? Your plan is to continue poisoning yourself.” She rolled her eyes. “Brilliant.”
“They g-g-give me the visions w-w-we need.”
“They’re going to kill you before the beldams can.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“You keep saying that too. Doesn’t make it true.”
“Let’s j-j-j-just find a spot to camp.”
“Whatever you say, boss,” Wynonna said, offering him a flimsy, mock salute.
Lockhart sighed but didn’t provoke her touchy nature any further. The pair just continued in silence until the vespari found a suitable place to stop. Walking along behind him, Wynonna worked on finishing the runes on the bullet, while Lockhart focused on his breathing. He noticed a harsh air in his lungs that hadn’t been there before the beldams dragged him into the dreamscape to feed on him. His condition was worsening. Every breath felt like a prickly pear was thrashing about inside him. He grimaced and held his hand to his chest in an attempt to alleviate the pain. There wasn’t much of an effect, but he didn’t want to draw any further attention to it.
Wynonna already questioned him enough. He didn’t want to give her one more thing to concern herself with. All she needed to be doing was focusing on the things he taught her. The book, the runes, and the hunt. That’s where her headed needed to be. Though she certainly didn’t need to be jumping into bed with a stranger every time they went into a town, he didn’t think he could win that argument. He thought it best to concede on that front and just focus on the long road ahead of them.
The pair finally stopped at another of the desert’s rare trees just when the sun was fading down behind the horizon. Another dying tree was to be their campsite for the night while Lockhart once again used the mad lotus to divine a path forward. He wished that all of the times the beldams dragged him into the dreamscapes had offered him a clue, but so far, nothing. The sorcerous women had shown him nothing but a generic network of caves. Caves that co
uld be anywhere. Caves that could be nothing like where they actually were.
And as for the Gentleman? They had seen nothing of him, and even the mad lotus-induced visions had offered only a scant image here or there. Besides, he intended to finish up with the beldam coven before chasing after the revenant anyway. Ensuring Lockhart survived the hexed magic was more important than promptly satisfying Wynonna’s rage.
After they’d had some dinner, Wynonna adequately finished her first runed bullet, and Lockhart answered a few more questions prompted by the notebook his apprentice continued to thumb through. With food in his belly, he felt ready to partake in another batch of mad lotus. His last couple experiences with it had certainly given him information, but he needed more. Needed more specifics for both the beldam coven and the Gentleman. Sitting down at their crackling campfire, he shoved another mouthful of mad lotus in and started chewing. He blacked out almost immediately.
***
“You’re getting too close,” Petronila spat.
This was no vision. This was the dreamscape. She’d pulled him into it rather than allowing him more insight into the beldam’s location. This time was different though. The coven hadn’t brought Lockhart into the dreamscape. Just the one. Just Petronila.
What remained the same was Lockhart’s position within the dream. Still, he hung in that cave from those oversized meat hooks. Still, he felt the pain as though it were real. Still, the cages of all the kills he had bound to himself were there.
Petronila ignored them. He was all she focused on. The tall, slender, doubled over beldam leaned down to peer in his face, spitting as she spoke.
“You move too quickly, vespari,” she told him.
He glared at her, saying nothing.
“You will find us, don’t you worry,” Petronila continued, “but it’s not time just yet. There are still things for you to do. My work isn’t finished just yet either. Now, go back.”
