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“I am the daughter of the sea, born of the essence present at the—”
Nothing happened.
The badgers heard me and slowly turned around, their eyes glittering in the moonlight that streamed through a hole overhead.
“Witness to creation,” Ukinim growled, his eyes enlarging.
The woman saw me and became frantic. “Help!”
The badgers slowly advanced on me, and I caught sight of another opening on the other side of the room. I took several steps backward, and the woman began to sob.
“Don’t leave me. Please!”
Squatting, I reached into the pile of bones and grabbed a long one with a jagged point, trying to ignore the muscles and slimy bits that were still attached. “Go!”
She headed for the opening, but the smaller badger blocked her path. Her sobs echoed off the walls.
“Let her go,” I said, rising again, my voice shaking with fear. “I’m the one you want.”
“Wrong,” Ukinim said with a growl. “We want you both.”
Ilena trapped the woman in the corner as Ukinim advanced on me.
I raised the bone in my hand, ready to strike.
Ukinim lunged and I jumped to the side, barely escaping his claws as I jabbed the bone into his eye with as much strength as I could muster. The badger shrieked and rushed toward me but veered sideways and bumped into the earthen wall, jamming the bone deeper and eliciting more shrieks. I scrambled backward and grabbed two more bones while keeping my eyes on my enemies, staying on Ukinim’s blind side.
Hearing her mate’s distress, Ilena turned and growled, hunkering low to the ground.
“You must die, witness to creation.”
“Not if I can help it,” I mumbled as I approached her and her intended victim.
Ukinim squealed behind me, violently shaking his head.
Ilena crouched lower and then pounced. I jump out of the way, but her claws sunk deeply into my upraised forearm.
I cried out in pain.
The woman continued to sob in the corner, even though the exit was clear.Why was she still here?
“Go!” I shouted.
Ilena lunged at me again, swinging high. I scrambled backward, trying to determine how to use the bone in my right hand as a weapon. It was shorter than the one still protruding from Ukinim’s eye, and I would be risking significant injury if I got close enough to strike.
Ukinim’s cries had quieted, and I noticed movement at my side. He was advancing toward me. “I will make you pay, witness to creation. I will take your own eye.”
Blood ran down my arm, and my wound throbbed.
Now I was trapped between the two of them, and the woman was still in the corner.
“Run!” I shouted.
She finally ran for the exit, but Ilena spun around to chase her. Anxious to save the woman, I jammed one of the bones in the badger’s ear. She squealed, but the bone fell to the floor. The wound wouldn’t incapacitate her, but I had bought the woman enough time to escape.
The sound of Ilena’s cries of pain caught Ukinim’s attention, and a low, menacing growl filled the cavern.
Now I was alone with two very angry badgers. Fantastic.
