Chapter 66

"Release me, you crag!" I wailed, my voice becoming as hoarse as a whistling seashell. But I would not falter in the face of my doom.

The bells of the beyond were tolling and I would not answer their call. I would turn from the dastardly face of death and fight for every breath I was yet to possess in this realm or any other.

The dreadful Mildred's talons drove deeper into my side, and I thrashed like a dandyhop, trying to break free of her terrible hold. Oh what misfortune, what a great failing I had committed. My queens ought to leave me to my fate, not chase me into the nevermore like they did now, along with my merry Max, the strapping mutt, the daring Dragoon, and the two fine fang danglers. What a fortune I did possess to have so many valiant knights riding into battle for mere little me.

If their rescue was to fail, I would not dare let a single memory in my mind be claimed by the terrible Dragoon and his vile shadow wench. Nestled in my forearm was a hidden razor blade, lying just beneath the skin, and I would rip it from my flesh and slash my throat asunder if it came to it. For I, Geraldine Gundellifus Gabolia Gundestria Grus, would not be an asset in the lizard king's plots. I would never betray my queens as such, but I would not choose death unless it was the very last option left to me.

Tears had burned my eyes at the sight of my queens taking pursuit, the disbelief that they deemed me worthy of coming for themselves too much for my hapless heart to take.

But of course, my Maxy boy had come. With the fires of the doongash in his eyes, he sang his lulling song, trying to call my monstrous captor back to him and release me from her clutches. Each note was pure, unsullied by any crux in this world. It was a song that bound me in chains of desire and awoke my Lady Petunia even under such dire circumstances.

But most of all, it stirred up that love I felt for him so deeply already, more than any song could ever conjure. It was unfettered and as true as any natural law in this world. He was my songful salmon and I his tuneless tuna. There was no other creature for me, not a single soul who came close. Somehow, between lines in the sand and a hate that had burned deep in my cockles, we had come to adore one another as deep as deep could be.

"Come to me, Maxy boy!" I bayed, struggling against Mildred's hold for all the good it would do.

Mildred turned her head and let out another blaze of fire down upon my beloved queen and my dear salamander, but it only forced them to slow for just a moment before the chase was on again.

Mildred could not seem to bring herself to fly higher into the clouds any longer, nor sweep away down the mountainside, her head turning to take in that song, while she worked to resist each note. But even the beasts of Hilgamore would not have been able to deny its call.

There was no escaping the power of the sultry Siren below, and he was coming for me, his gallant gal, and not even the almighty stars could stop him.