Reign of Shadows - Deborah Chester [116]
Elandra did not have to be told. She had seen grown men crushed to death in the rice marshes by giant anacondas.
Tears ran down her cheeks. Her consciousness shrank to the strong bands encircling her throat. She believed what the woman had told her, yet the snake continued to slowly choke her. The constriction was becoming alarmingly tight.
She opened her mouth, punting, and realized that whether she fought or waited passively she was going to die here in this rite she didn’t understand.
Anger tired within her. She was the daughter of a warrior, and she wouldn’t die tamely.
Lifting her hand, she tugged at the snake around her throat. Immediately it tightened its coils with a quick, reflexive action that made her gasp for air.
Her anger intensified. She found the snake’s head, felt its tongue flicker against her palm, and closed her fingers around his neck. Then she squeezed with all her strength.
Its tail whipped against her shoulder, and it tightened its coils harder. She was gasping now, fighting for every breath of air. With her last shreds of consciousness, she twisted with both hands and snapped the snake’s neck. A final reflexive shudder ran through its length; then it lay limp.
She unwound it from her throat and flung it as far from her as she could.
Still consumed by fury, she rose to her feet, shaking off the other snakes that had been crawling over her legs. None of them bit her. She lifted her head and faced where she thought the watcher might be.
“I defy you,” she said loudly. “I will not submit to your tests again. Let me go.”
“If you cross the sand, the snakes will strike,” the woman warned her. “Most are poisonous.”
“You put me here to die,” Elandra said. “But I will do so by my choice, not by yours.”
She oriented herself and stepped off the pillow onto the hot sand. It burned her feet as before, but this time she did not flinch. She strode out, driven by her anger and defiance, and counted the number of steps back to the stone platform.
Despite the woman’s warning, nothing bit her. Elandra tossed her head with a feeling of triumph. So that had been another lie too. She bumped hard into the platform, bruising her thighs, and climbed onto it.
“Stop her!” the woman commanded.
Elandra heard quick footsteps approaching. Hands gripped her arms. Elandra swung out blindly and managed to hit the other woman’s face. The attendant uttered a soft cry and lost her grip on Elandra, who gave her a strong shove.
Stumbling forward, Elandra almost managed to get past the attendant, but she grabbed Elandra from behind by her hair.
Sharp pain in Elandra’s scalp made her yelp. Gritting her teeth, she elbowed the attendant in the stomach and wrenched free again. She tried to run but immediately stumbled down the steps she’d forgotten were at the other end of the platform.
She landed awkwardly, bruising her knees and hip, and cursed her blindness.
The attendant was on her in an instant, pulling her upright and shaking her. “You fool!” the woman cried. “You’ll break your neck trying to run like that!”
It was Bixia’s petulant voice who spoke to her. Bixia who had led her here. Bixia who fought with her now. Suddenly Elandra knew why the sound of her earrings and the smell of her perfume had seemed so familiar. None of the Penestricans wore such adornments. She should have guessed immediately.
Elandra gripped Bixia’s arm. “Sister! I beg you to help me—”
There was an abrupt sound, as though a pair of hands clapped once. The glaring whiteness around Elandra vanished, making her stagger with surprise.
Blinking, she frowned and squinted at the gloom that surrounded her. Rubbing her eyes, she found herself able tofocus on Bixia’s face in front of her. Bixia was scowling at her.
Amazement spread through Elandra. “I can see,” she whispered.
The shock of it was too sudden. Her knees