Filed to story: The Chosen Saga Novel PDF Free
Araiya looked on and spoke. “Heed my warning. If you so much as touch Korine. I will get free. I will burn your fucking army to ash, and I will use every drop of power I have access to. I will Keep you alive as I grow plants into your body, I will liquify your bones, I will drown you where you stand, and I will fucking make sure you feel every Goddess forsaken fucking minute of it. You do not fucking touch her!” She was screaming by the end. “Do you understand me, YOU DO NOT FUCKING TOUCH HER.” She pulled at the chains and screamed her rage.
Everyone took a step back at the rage they beheld. They watched Araiya scream and yell, but the chains held. “You know what a trapped wildcat does Araiya?” Donal walked slowly closer; a smirk secured on his face. “They chuff, and yowl, and roar just like you did. They do it to scare off predators, and most times, it’s because they know their end is near and they refuse to go quietly.”
“They do this, because they want to scare off the predator, but it is mostly because they know their end is near. Just like you.” Donal walked over and caressed her face. “But don’t say I never gave you anything.” He reached up and unhooked one of her hands, and let the chain loosen a bit. So now Araiya was still chained to the arch, but only by one hand. Donal danced out of reach when she rushed forward.
She was yanked back once she reached the end of the chain again. Araiya bared her teeth at him. She wrapped her arm around the chain and tugged trying to reach him again.
Donal’s eye flicked to Korine and Araiya spun. She rushed toward her, but two soldiers had moved her farther away so that even if she strained, she still couldn’t reach her. They stared at each other and one of the soldiers held Korine down.
Korine was staring at the solider next to her that had picked up the clay jar. She shook her head and begged. “Please no. Don’t do this. Kill me if you must, but not this.” Araiya strained and touched a finger to Korine’s foot. “Please anything but this.”
“What’s going on? What are you doing?” Jon yelled and tried to walk closer to Korine, but he was held in place by another soldier. Zephyr and Shavon looked on. Zephyr face was a smirk, but it looked like a mask, something he slips on when he didn’t want people to know his true feelings. Shavon’s face was pale, but it was almost anticipatory, almost looked like what was happening was exciting her.
“Jon, I told you; I am setting her free.” Donal chuckled softly as the second solider bared her stomach. Korine started to bat at the two me next to her. Her screams becoming more frantic.
“Please don’t do this. Please Donal, I will do anything. Don’t do this.”
“Donal, if she if free, release her and let her come home with me. That was our deal.” Jon tried to take another step, but Donal charged him and got into his face.
“I told you once a woman is mine, she is mine until death. Korine will be free of me, but she will be free of everyone and everything this realm has to offer.” Donal whirled and looked at the soldiers. “Do it.”
Korine’s panicked begging reached a crescendo. “Please, please, please. No.” She just screamed it over and over. Then the lid was removed on the jar. The soldier quickly upended the jar on to her stomach and held it there. One second Korine was frozen, her pale skin glistened with sweat and her panicked breath was the only thing heard across the clearing. The next second her blood curdling scream wrenched across the desert.
One soldier held her arms down as the second soldier lifted the jar. What everyone saw made them gasp. On her stomach were bulging white maggot looking bugs. They were large, larger than two fingers, and they were all wriggling. At first glace you might have missed what was happening if not for the blood, the maggot looking bugs were burrowing into Korines stomach.
She screamed so long and so violently that she was becoming hoarse.
One of the maggots rolled off the others and landed on the soldier’s hand and he screamed and jumped up. He swatted at the bug as it quickly dug in, but the other soldier was quick to slice through it before it went all the way in. They removed the half that had dug in and Araiya saw just how big the hole was. The hole created by the maggot was as wide as coin, and that was from one, Korine had dozens.
“Stop it,” Jon begged. “Get them off my daughter. Please.”
Korine screamed until the maggots, one by one, disappeared into her body. She passed out into oblivion. Her stomach was riddled with gaping holes. Then, one by one, the hole was plugged. Rounded protrusions stuck into each hole, and the bleeding ebbed. “What the fuck are they? Get them out of her.”
“No can do, it’s almost impossible to get them out once they are in. She won’t be able to survive.” Donal smirked at Jon. Araiya had long since gone limp. Frozen on the end of her chain, tears freely falling. She had failed. She had promised to save her, and she had failed.
“How can she survive?” Jon begged. “What the fuck are they.”
“These are Sarcan larva.” Donal walked back over to Korine and crouched down by her face. “The most dangerous insect we have, once fully matured, they are harmless to the living. The adult Sarcan’s only eat carrion, but the babies, well they need live flesh and blood.” Donal caressed Korine’s face, and Araiya growled. He looked up and reeled back from the look on her face.
“Get away from her.”
“I see my death in your eyes.” Donal murmured. He shook himself and turned away.
“How can she survive? She is all I have left.” Jon pushed against the soldier once again.
“She cannot. The maggots have burrowed in and used their bodies to block the holes. They are currently eating her from the inside out and they do not want to lose an ounce of blood. They will emerge in a few days fully grown, but Korine will have maybe an hour left before they eat through something important. I put them on her stomach to give her a slow death. She was a good girl.” Donal stood and looked back at Araiya with a smirk.
“Even if your master takes me, no matter how long it will take, I will kill you Donal, and no one, not even he will be able to stop me.” Araiya yanked at her chain and Donal stumbled away.
Jon, the coward, looked at his daughter then stormed closer to Araiya. “This is your fault you stupid bitch. It should have been you.” A tear actually fell down his redden face. “THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE YOU!” He screamed in her face.
Araiya laughed at him as she stepped forward, her arm held behind her from the chain and bared her teeth. “This, this right here Jon, this is your fault. Only yours. Your ambition and ludicrous notion that woman belong to men, to barter, to use, brought your daughter here. She is dying because of you!” Spit flew from her mouth. “You do not get to blame me for putting your daughter in the hands of that mad man. It was you that gave her to him. It was you who pushed and prodded him into trying to get her back. You tried to take back someone that wasn’t yours in the first place and now she is here. Look at your masterpiece, Jon. Your foolishness, cowardice, whiny, pathetic fucking maneuvering ended Korine here and it is YOUR FUCKING FAULT.”
“You fucking dare…”
“Better leave now Jon, because when, not if, but when I get free, you are first on my list to kill.” Araiya radiated murder.
“Your eyes,” Jon murmured. “Your eyes, they are glowing.” Jon turned and ran. Ran like the coward he was.
Araiya looked away from the retreating back of the man who had abused her for her entire life. How had that man held such sway in her life before? He was nothing.
Araiya looked down at Korine, and the tears stared to fall again. Zephyr just turned and walked away, leaving the three women below the arch. Araiya dropped to her knees and shuffled as close as her chain would let her. She turned slightly sideways so that she was in a more comfortable angle to pull as she reached for Korine.
“You won’t be able to reach her, Araiya.” Shavon moved closer. “You’re chained to a rock face, by chains that block power. Even if you could reach her, you wouldn’t be able to save her like you want.”
“She saved me.”