Oriander obeyed, lifting his wounded hand off the ginkrat’s back. He stood and stepped back to stand next to Darris. Noel raised her staff, ready for the lizard to attack, but it didn’t. It just sat there, eyes unmoving, staring at nothing. Its mouth was open as it remained frozen.

Was it trying to blend in? Or was it surveying the area somehow? Noel’s mind raced as she tried to devise a strategy. Despite what Darris wanted, she had no desire to hurt this creature. As far as she could tell, it was an innocent animal. Sure, it was dangerous with its saliva, but that did not make it evil. It was only working off instinct. Noel had to think of a way to get the ginkrat to spit up the piece and stop it without too much damage to either of them.

“Azrath, any ideas?”

Azrath shook his head. “Not a one. Sorry.”

Great, some help. But Noel couldn’t be too upset with Azrath. She couldn’t come up with anything either. But she also couldn’t do nothing. Who knows how long they had until the piece was destroyed? Noel took a tentative step forward. The ginkrat did not react. So, she took another step. Then another. And another.

She was within reach to poke it with her staff. Noel shifted her grip to do so, but as one of the wingtips was about to prod the ginkrat’s scales, the lizard’s tongue emerged. Noel jumped back, much farther than she had planned, staff held in both hands to block her chest and face. However, the ginkrat’s tongue did not extend far, barely an inch. The tip of the tongue, which resembled a spoon, swayed back and forth like a horizontal pendulum. She wondered if this was the ginkrat smelling or detecting heat, similar to what other lizards did. But there was no way to tell as the ginkrat’s tongue retreated into its mouth.

Then, suddenly, the ginkrat charged. It was fast! Much faster than she thought its stout legs could carry it. And it was heading straight toward her.

Without thinking, Noel dodged right, a shrieking Azrath holding on for dear life. The ginkrat missed her by a mile as it scurried past her, unable to stop its momentum. Noel sighed in relief. She could easily outrun it if she had to. Azrath would be safe.

Though she was still, Azrath continued to shriek. And it was only now that she heard what he was screaming.

“NOT YOU!!”

Noel was momentarily confused. Not her? What was he talking about?

Was the ginkrat not aiming for her? Or Azrath? If it wasn’t, then—her heart stopped cold as she whipped around to see where the ginkrat had gone. She knew before she saw it.

“NO!! STOP!!”

But Noel’s impulsive attempt at another command had no visible effect on the ginkrat as it expanded its jaw to almost twice its width to bite down on the dead guard’s head.  

All strategy left Noel as she dropped the staff and charged full force at the lizard.

But it was too late.

By the time she got there, the ginkrat had already worked its way past the guard’s head and onto his shoulders, swallowing the corpse whole like a snake.

Noel knew she should have attacked the ginkrat. She should have kicked it in the center of its body or stomped on its neck to stop it from eating. If her command power was useless, that was the next best thing. Yet she couldn’t. She wouldn’t. In that instant, she knew she would not hurt the ginkrat. So instead, she dove at the guard’s legs, Azrath taking flight as she landed on his broken limbs and wrapped her arms as tightly as she could.

It took only a second for her to gain her footing. Then she pulled with all her might. She would not let the ginkrat have him! He had a family. And at the very least, he deserved to be returned to them.

They needed to know that he was gone.

So, she pulled as hard as she could with the ginkrat pulling back. It was a lot stronger than she thought. It matched her strength, clamping its jaws down over the guard’s chest so tightly that she could hear the sound of breaking ribs. The ginkrat’s claws scraped across the ground until the noise stopped as it gained a proper grip. Now, however hard she pulled, it would not let go. Blood poured from the ginkrat’s jaw. Whether it was the lizard’s or the guard’s, Noel did not know. She didn’t want to know.

“He’s not yours. Give…him…back!”

She felt a tugging on her coat and the sounds of high-pitched straining as Azrath pulled with her. It didn’t help, but at his effort, Noel grew in confidence. A surge of strength filled her arms and legs as she gave one final tug.

She saw the guard’s body begin to slip from the ginkrat’s mouth. And she felt a momentary swoop of victory in her chest. She had done it! She had saved him.

Then she saw what was left of the upper body, which the ginkrat’s saliva had mostly dissolved.

Oh god…

Noel’s breath caught in her throat. Along with her vomit. She wanted to scream. She found that she couldn’t. But she didn’t let go of the guard. Her body would not obey her.

The ginkrat leaped forward, reinforcing its hold on the guard’s torso by grabbing his abdomen with its front claws. It dug deep, producing more blood from the corpse.

And then Noel felt herself falling backward with the guard’s legs still in her arms. She felt Azrath leave her again as she fell.

She hit the concrete hard. She heard the sound of more breaking bones, this time from beneath her, as she landed atop the guard’s severed legs.

Noel found herself able to move again. She didn’t hesitate to jump to her feet and run as fast as possible, leaving the legs behind. She did not look back.

She wanted out of this nightmare!

Noel would have run without stopping had her boot not slipped on the bloody concrete sending her skidding across the ground.

At this point, Noel stopped thinking. All she did was lay on the ground, cover her ears with her hands, and scream to try and drown out the sound of crunching bone and the wet smack of jaws on flesh.

“Make it stop. Make it stop! Please God, MAKE IT STOP!!”

But it didn’t stop.

No matter how loud she screamed, she couldn’t block out the noise. No matter how tightly she screwed her eyes shut, she couldn’t stop the images from entering her head. This was real, and no amount of hiding would ever make it end.

But she kept screaming anyway; and buried her face into her arms as she curled into a ball.

Because, at that moment, that’s all she was able to do.