She flopped down so she sat across from me. “I kill, kill you in little time. First. Talk, talk.” She sucked in a deep breath and I realized she was winded. This sickness of hers might actually save my ass. But I wasn’t about to let my guard down. I watched as she placed the flail next to a meaty thigh.
I didn’t lower my hands. “Yeah, that’s what I was doing, asking you a question. So, let’s talk. What are you doing away from your territory?”
She shook her head and . . . shit, was she crying? “Giants dying, dying. All dying, dying.”
My jaw dropped open. “What, how?” Much as I disliked them, they were part of the ecosystem of our world. Even I knew that taking out a giant’s tribe would have consequences on the rest of us.
Her eyes narrowed and a bubble formed on the front of her nose as she breathed in and out. “Emperor does this to us, us.”
That first word was enough to make my knees weak and I had to lock them to stay standing. “The Emperor did this?”
“He come, come to me in dream. Say I owe, owe him. I say no. He takes lives.” She shrugged as if it meant nothing. “He make land dead, dead. Not just giants, land sick, sick.”
If not for the fact I was discussing this with the queen of the giants, I would have wanted more info. But I wasn’t sure how far I could push this conversation of ours. The sun had fully set now. As a black cat, I had the best chance of slipping away while the night ruled. I looked longingly at my saddle and my bag of gear. There was nothing I could do about it. I would have to leave it all behind if I wanted to have even a chance of surviving.
I had only one goal. Get to the flail and shift faster than I ever had before. Maggi and the Raven said I needed the weapon, and I wasn’t about to let it go so easily.
“You sure it’s the Emperor?” I tipped my head to one side. “Maybe could it be someone else? Some other mage? Merlin? The Jinn?” I was throwing the names out to keep her brain busy.
Not a lot of brains was going to work in my favor, and I could scramble said brains quickly if I forced her to think hard with all the questions.
She frowned and confusion was written in clear bold letters across her face. She snorted and a hunk of snot flew out of her nose and landed between us, the size of a goat. I stared at it, unsure if it was snot or a bit of her brain with the meaty deep red consistency it had going on it. For a split second, I thought it moved and I took a step back. My gorge rose and I struggled against the heaving that my body was sure it needed to do. I looked up at the sky, away from the glob of snot as I struggled to keep my shit together.
“I sure.” She breathed out. “I sure.” The wheeze in her lungs was audible now as she rested. Her eyes were on me, never moving from her prey even as sick as she obviously was. Her stomach rumbled, giving me an idea.
I pointed at the fire and the roasting game hens.
“You can eat those if you want. Two birds, cooked up nice. Probably not more than a snack for you, but you should have them.” I gave a quick wave of my hands to point as I stepped away from the fire. Her eyes left me for a split second and that was all I needed. I launched toward her right thigh, diving for the flail next to her.
I hit the ground hard, knocked the wind out of my lungs and still managed to get a hand around the wooden shaft. I forced the shift from two legs to four and the flail absorbed into me, as did all my weapons and clothes. On four legs, I had nothing but a metal collar woven with scraps of material that indicated my clothing.
Before I could take another full step, I’d already spun and on four legs sprinted away from the queen of the giants. With the wind ruffling my fur and my heart beating double time so loudly, I could hear nothing else. That didn’t last.
I counted to ten before a scream erupted behind me, the sound deepening into a phlegm-filled roar that sent a flock of night birds high into the air. I wasn’t going to be fast enough to fully outrun her. I’d need Balder for that, but if I’d kept him close she would have eaten him first.
I was on my own.
I raced toward a pile of rocks and skidded around behind them, peeking out. The ground rumbled hard enough that the pebbles jumped and danced next to my paws. I crouched low and kept my eyes on her while she thundered toward me, her arms flailing left and right.
“I kill, kill you!” she roared and then coughed, hacking and choking on her own spit. She went to a knee and thumped a fist between two of her three breasts until she cleared her lungs. I didn’t move, despite the stench of her breath wafting over me.
A weird rush of emotions caught me off guard and I had to fight to keep myself still and not stand up.
I felt bad for her . . . and she’d tried to kill me. I hunched tighter to the rock, my mind racing. What the hell was this new emotional shit? I shouldn’t be feeling bad for a giant, certainly not one who would tear my head clean off if I so much as gave her an inkling as to where I was.
Yet I couldn’t stop the feelings. I couldn’t stop seeing the tears trickling down her face, mingling with the snot.
She sat back on her ass and I realized she was dying, right in front of me. She fell to her back and flopped her arms out to the side. Her chest heaved with such effort that her bones creaked.
I shifted back to two legs and slowly stood. “Queen Bee.” I didn’t know her name, but it was the best I could do. “How did the Emperor do this to you?”
Her eyes found me and the pain in them cut through me as if it were my pain, which was stupid. So stupid. Tremors shook down through my body and she smiled at me.
“You . . . not shifter. You magic, magic too. Like Emperor.” It was not a question she asked me. Her words did nothing to slow the tremors in my body.
I shook my head. “No, no magic. How did the Emperor do this?”
Her breath rattled. “In dream world. He poisoned my land, land. Nothing will live now.” Her eyes closed. “Name is Destry.”
I was close enough that she could have grabbed me. I bent to a knee and put a hand on her arm. She didn’t flinch.
“Destry, I can’t help you,” I said. “I have no magic.”
Her laugh was wet and pain-filled. “You do. You like mother. Powerful, powerful. I recognize you. Think you her.” Under my hand, I could feel her heart beating, but it slowed with each second that passed.
“Dying, dying,” she whispered. “Emperor will destroy all land. Your mother stop him. You stop him.”
I pressed harder against her arm. “I’m just a cat.”
“No. You magic,” she whispered.
“Magic cat?” I asked.
She gurgled and it took me a moment to realize she was laughing. “Magic pussy.”
I snorted and shook my head. “Dirty to the end.”
“Destry last of clan Bonebreaker.” She lifted the hand across from me and reached under her loincloth. I watched warily until she pulled from underneath it a small drawstring bag. “Give you this, this.”
She held out the drawstring to me and I took it. As it touched my hands it shrunk from the size of a large boulder to the size of an apple. Still warm from being against her skin, I rolled it in my hand.
“What is it?”
“Magic dust . . . make you see the magic in you. Sprinkle on skin. Make you strong, strong.”
I stared at the pouch and her arm flopped to the ground. I pressed a hand against her arm again. Her heart stuttered. I would have been her last meal. Her last attempt at survival.
And now she’d given me something that was important to her.
Fuck, and now I was tearing up. “I’m sorry for stealing your jewel.”
“No sorry.” She breathed out. “Jewel bad, bad.” Her eyes flicked open and she looked at me. “Sorry I try eat you. Can’t help it. Giant stomach.”
I smiled and she smiled back and the light flickered and died behind her eyes. In the night, the black of her iris gave one last final flare and then faded. Silent.
Her body shuddered and a new stench filled the air as her body let loose the last of its hold on life. I backed away, clutching the small bag to me.
I stood there a long time, close enough to watch over her, but not so close the smell reached me unless I took a deep breath. Destry of the Bonebreakers was a queen who’d died because the Emperor demanded his dues, and she refused.