Sentinelspire - Mark Sehestedt [105]
"Perch!" Berun screamed.
Sauk laughed. "Don't cry too much. Your little friend got her eye. A lot more than most of her prey get. But only the strong survive. Your little lizard never had a chance."
Sauk backed away and lowered his sword. Berun just stood, looking at the tiger.
"Stop this now," said Sauk. "Before someone else you care about gets hurt. Drop the knife. Now. Drop it or Taaki takes you down."
Berun stood still a moment, then he stood straight. Lewan gasped, and the hammer wavered in his hand. Was it over?
Then Berun grabbed the clasp of his cloak. A twist, and the heavy fabric fell to the ground. Unencumbered, he dropped into a defensive crouch and brandished the strange ivory blade.
"Your choice," called Sauk. He pointed his blade at Berun and told the tiger, "Taaki, anukh!"
The tiger came in slowly, each paw placed carefully on the wet pavement before her, her head low to the ground. Lewan knew that a knife would be no match against the tiger. He brought the hammer back, preparing to throw-if he could hit the tiger in the head, it would stun her long enough for his master to get away.
But before Lewan could throw, Taaki went still as stone. She crouched, unmoving, and Lewan counted five quick beats of his heart. Then a tremor passed through her, so violent that she sprayed thousands of tiny droplets of rain out of her fur. She twisted around, snapping at her midsection with her teeth.
"Taaki?" called Sauk, his voice thick with worry. "What's wrong?"
The tiger screamed-high, pitiful, and with such strength that Lewan flinched and covered one ear with his free hand. "Taaki!"
The tiger bit at her side several more times, then threw herself onto her back and began to flop and writhe like a live fish thrown onto a hot pan. Again and again she screamed, drowning out Sauk's cries. She writhed and squirmed, her rear paws kicking the air, and then she clawed at her own torso with her front claws. Fur wet with rain flew-and then fur wet with blood and bits of skin-and still she screamed. Lewan had never heard such cries of agony.
A few assassins ran over. One of the archers approached Sauk, his bow in hand and arrow still on the string. He pointed it at the tiger. "Sauk, shall I-?"
Another shriek from the tiger drowned out his last words.
The bowman raised his bow, pulled shaft to cheek, and pointed the sharp steel at the tiger. Sauk snarled and cut off the man's head with one backswing of his sword. The archer's body fell one way, his head the other, and blood flew up in a great gout over his companions, who were quickly stepping back.
Talieth was screaming something, and even though she was only a few paces away, Lewan could not make out her words over the tiger's cries.
Sauk dropped his sword and tried to approach the tiger, but as soon as he came within reach of her claws, one raked across his leg, gashing a wide red swath through his trousers and skin. Grimacing in horror, he backed away.
Taaki slapped her torso with both paws three times in quick succession-with such force that Lewan was shocked he didn't hear bone snapping. Then she arched her back and let out a long, final scream that rose and rose until it was beyond human hearing. Her muscles seemed locked in that position, the middle of her back arched almost a foot off the ground, when Lewan saw it-
The torn fur and skin high up on her stomach… bulged-
–then fell back.
Her back relaxed, and she hit the pavement. Her stomach bulged again, larger this time, and kept expanding until the skin ruptured and tore. The lights hovering over the tower courtyard brightened from a pale blue to a bright green, and Lewan saw a tiny claw emerge from the torn skin. Then another, scratching and raking at the bloody flesh. The rupture widened, and Perch's horned head emerged-his skin black from blood and other fluids, but when he opened his eyes, they reflected the unearthly green light.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Sauk roared, his own cry of grief fierce as any tiger's, and raised his fist to smash the treeclaw lizard. His arm was halfway through its