Iron Crowned Page 0,48

pain, suffering from the silver, just as any Otherworldy creature would. Well, actually, any creature with a knife in its eye would probably suffer, magical or not.

I had the sense to jerk my athame out, having no desire either to lose the blade or get pulled along as the snake reared back up. The suffering of its pal made the other hold off. In those moments, I shoved the athame back into my belt, yelping in surprise. Apparently, the snake's eye was poisonous too, and whatever liquid had come away with the blade ate through my jeans and burned my skin. Nonetheless, I managed to get another cartridge loaded. Without hesitation, I turned and emptied the entire gun into the snake's head. I wasn't precise enough to hit the eye, but all those bullets took their toll. The snake wavered in the air, blood mixing with venom on its skin, and with a last hiss of pain, it fell over and slammed into the ground.

Wondering why the other snake hadn't come for me, I spun around and saw Volusian and Kiyo attacking it. I took it on faith that the first one was dead and loaded the gun with my last cartridge. Volusian's touch was searing the snake's skin, and Kiyo was simply ripping into it with his teeth. Opting for what seemed tried and true, I fired into the snake's head again. Between the three of us, we soon literally took the snake down.

I stood there tense and ready, empty gun in one hand and athame in the other. The world was silent except for the wind and the occasional twitching of the third snake as it died. Moments later, Kiyo morphed out of the fox shape, giving me a better view of any injuries now that he wasn't covered in fur. He grimaced and spit on the ground a few times, but biting the snake apparently hadn't destroyed his mouth or face. A couple red spots on his arms made me think he too had been splattered with the venom. Otherwise, he looked unharmed.

He sighed and raked a hand through his black hair, which was curling slightly from sweat.

"You know," he said. "I don't think I'll ever be able to bring myself to watch Dune again."

Chapter 11

"Cute," I said.

Kiyo turned to me, giving me the same assessment I'd just given him. "You okay?"

"A little venom and probably some bruising tomorrow."

He nodded, relieved, and then did a double take. "You're bleeding."

"Am I?" I asked, almost as surprised as he was.

He hurried over to me. "Your shoulder."

"Oh, shit," I said, craning my neck to look back. "That's the table injury."

"Take off your shirt. And don't even start with some ridiculous modesty spiel," he added, seeing me start to protest. I knew he was right and gingerly lifted off the Mötley Cr眉e shirt. He helped me part of the way, saving me from raising my arms too far. Examining the shirt, I saw blood soaked in it.

"Bad?" I asked.

"I'll know once I take the bandages off. Please tell me you have more and that we don't have to reuse these."

"I've got more. I told you I brought supplies."

Carefully, he peeled off the gash's cloth coverings and tossed them to the ground. In the firelight and dim glow of sunrise, I could see the fabric was completely red with blood.

"You broke some stitches," he said wearily. "I don't have the tools to fix it." I'd once been kind of freaked out that he used his veterinarian skills to patch battle wounds, but now I kind of took it in stride.

"Pain aside, is that going to matter?" I asked.

"You'll bleed more, though I'll wrap it as much as I can. You'll risk a scar too if you don't get it stitched again. Once we finish this craziness up, I can do it for you back in Tucson if you don't want to explain it to your doctor."

"My regular one's kind of used to this," I said.

He snorted. "I imagine so."

I fetched my pack, and we both sat on the ground. The light was increasing, making it easier for him to work as he tidied up my back. The old bandages were tossed away, and I winced as he swabbed everything with antiseptic wipes.

"I thought the danger didn't start until we were in the crown's cave," I muttered.

"As often happens, mistress, you've made an incorrect assumption," said Volusian. "The legends say the path to the crown is perilous. We are on the path.