Chapter 19

Commanding herself to stay calm, Emaleen kept a tight hold on her club. She had let out an involuntary shriek when she had been pulled back, but stopped herself there. She had sworn that she would not lose herself to hysterics as she had before. She braced herself, but did not try to get out of Mordech's hold, as difficult as it was to fight the urge. With the tight grip he had on her, she knew she didn't have a chance to break away, so she had to retain her strength, and hope that he would give her a chance to use it.

"You stupid girl," he snarled into her ear. The sensation made her feel sick. "How long did you think you could run from me?"

Mordech was moving backwards with Emaleen. She didn't know if he thought she would try to jump off the edge to escape him, as she had done before. Maybe he knew about the ship Jim and Emaleen had hidden, and thought she may fly off again. His reasons were his own, but she knew he would not let her escape a third time.

"You cannot beat me! So many have tried. Your father did not live one minute in front of me. Your mother did not live long enough to keep me from finding you. What did possibly think you could do?"

Emaleen's chest felt tight and clenched as she tried to keep her breathing regular. Her emotions were on the verge of running wild. More than scaring her with his subtly worded threats and his overwhelming power, his demeanor frightened her. Any encounter she had had with him, even on Jim's ship, he had been in control, and knew it. He always spoke so carefully, as though he were carrying out a role he knew well. His manner had always been cold, calculated, and almost imperial, in the most grotesque way. But now, as he dug his claws into her and snarled into her ear, asserting his dominance in every way he could, his manner said he was falling apart, and becoming more beast than anything. The recklessness and savagery, just now seeping through the thin surface, terrified her.

"I hope these last few weeks have treated you well. Have you told that boy about me?" Emaleen's heart seemed to swell in her chest when Mordech mentioned Jim, though she had known he would. "Have you two grown close? Can't you just picture him racing up that hill now? Do you think he'll make it up before I kill you?"

Mordech threw Emaleen fiercely to the ground. It was the chance she was waiting for, and couldn't have come at a better time—she didn't know how much longer she could keep herself from fighting back. She landed on top of her club and readjusted her grip on it.

"I'll kill him too, Emaleen. And I'll take all the time I want to." He was snarling and snapping at almost every word. Emaleen could hear his heavy footsteps, normally silent as he seemed to float. He was coming closer. "All the time you cost me with your mother when you ran. Does he know what's coming?"

Emaleen suddenly felt Mordech grab her ankle. As he yanked her towards himself sharply, Emaleen twisted herself towards him and swung her club with as much strength as she could. She had hoped to hit the arm he was using to pull her, but didn't realize how low to her Mordech had been leaning. Her club hit him on the side of his face, and Emaleen could hear the crack on impact. Mordech yelled in a way unlike anything Emaleen had heard before, as he released his hold on her ankle to clutch his face. Not loosening her hold on the club, Emaleen quickly tried to back away. When Mordech saw her moving, he released his face and reached for Emaleen again.

With a yell of exertion, Emaleen swung the club again, knocking Mordech's arm off of its path. She pulled her club back, preparing to strike him again, but her second blow did not buy her as much time as the first had. Mordech lunged for her, grabbing her around the waist, his claws piercing her skin. Emaleen could not hold back her scream of pain; it felt like he had lit fires inside of her. She dropped her club immediately, her muscles seizing at the sudden burst of agony. Subconsciously, she tried to pull away from him, but Mordech dug deeper, tightening his hold, increasing the sensation.

"I will tear you apart," Mordech snarled, his speech slurred by the damage Emaleen had done with his first blow. He stood up, lifting Emaleen off the ground, his grasp unrelenting. She cried out again, the movement making the fire feel new. "I will rip you to shreds!"

Emaleen heard a blast, but did not register it as such until Mordech stumbled forward a step. He growled, and when a second blast sounded and he stumbled under the impact, he turned to look over his shoulder, roaring. Emaleen looked as well, knowing what she would see. Jim, his brow set deep, his eyes dark, and his lips tightly shut, had made it back to the plateau and was shooting at Mordech. Emaleen knew that he would be using his shots sparingly, but he was shooting at Mordech to draw his attention off of Emaleen. He was trying to make himself the greater nuisance, the larger threat—the one picking the fight.

'We're going to die,' Emaleen thought. It was the first time she had allowed the dark thought, constantly scratching at the corner of her mind, to break through to the surface. Mordech's claws in her sides were anguish. Her weapon was lost to her. Jim's gun looked so small.

Emaleen had tumbled so quickly into her despair, accepting their fate, she did not realize at first what had happened. She was drawn back into the moment only seconds before she landed. Mordech had thrown her down, several feet from where she was trapped in his hold. She hit something solid behind her and felt suffocated when she lost the air in her lungs. She gasped for breath, trembling, the pain in her sides still intense, making her feel weak and sick. She lifted her head, desperate to lose track of neither Mordech nor Jim.

Looking for one, she found the other; Mordech was running straight towards Jim. Jim shot at him again, clipping him on the shoulder, but Mordech kept running at him, only a few feet to close the gap. Jim's expression, hard and daunting, faltered for a moment and Mordech closed in on him. He raised the gun, grasping it tightly with both hands, and drew it down hard on the same shoulder her had just shot, making Mordech roar like a fearsome animal.

Emaleen pushed herself up, which caused her such pain, she worried she might lose consciousness. She had to do something. Gulping in breaths, she looked around her, and realized Mordech had thrown her near the opening of their small shelter. With any luck, he wouldn't have known that they hid their second gun—the one Jim had used when they were escaping his ship—just inside the opening. As quickly as she could force herself to, Emaleen crawled to the opening and reached inside. She could have cried when she felt her fingers wrap around the handle.

Pulling it from the cave, Emaleen looked over her shoulder, and felt a jolt of panic tear through her. She saw Jim empty-handed, his gun nowhere that she could see. Clasping his hands together, he thrust a hard jab into Mordech's side with his elbow. Mordech's returning snarl sounded pained at first, but quickly turned ferocious. Emaleen felt her blood run cold when Mordech took hold of Jim's head with both of his hands and fiercely slammed his own head into Jim's.

Emaleen braced herself on the outside wall of the cave and pushed herself to her feet, gripping the gun tightly. She made herself move towards Mordech and Jim, lurching in her first few steps. She felt weak, afraid, and in pain, but she could do nothing if she couldn't get closer.

Mordech released his hold on Jim, who stumbled backwards immediately. His legs moved as though they could hardly support him, and he reached out blindly behind him, as though he was looking for something with which he could support himself. Mordech watched him for a moment, and then raised one of his spike-covered arms. Had Emaleen had enough breath, she would have yelled out. As it was, she could only will herself to run faster as Mordech struck Jim. She did not see where the blow hit, but it was with enough force to knock Jim backwards and to the ground. He bounced slightly when he landed, and when his body settled, it did not rise.

Emaleen tore her eyes away from Jim and focused on Mordech, who loomed over him. His back was turned to her, but she knew in her uneven footsteps and with her ragged breathing, he heard her coming. She stood up as straight as she could make herself, and readied the gun to be shot. Jim had taught her how to do that, but had not been able to help her improve her aim. If she was going to make her shot count, she had to be as close to Mordech as possible. She didn't have anything left to waste.

When she was no more than ten feet from him, Mordech turned quickly towards her, and lunged. In a swift movement, more fluid than she had managed when handling the gun before, she raised the gun at Mordech and pulled the trigger.

When Emaleen opened her eyes, she was lying flat on her back. The sun moved slower across the sky on this planet than what she was used to, so staring at the sky told her nothing of how long she had been lying there. She could remember shooting that gun at Mordech, could faintly recall a great force rammed her back, but nothing after that. She realized that she must have been thrown back by the recoil of the gun. When she shot it, it was like she had run into a solid wall that pushed back.

She turned her head slightly, feeling that it was all she could do at the moment, and her eyes landed on where Mordech had fallen. She had seen Jim use the gun to tear apart the ships, but had not thought of how that would translate when shooting it at another creature. Mordech was all but obliterated. Emaleen felt a small a small flutter in her chest when she realized they had beat him. He was no longer a threat to anyone else he would have crossed paths with, to her, or to Jim.

Jim.

Emaleen rolled to her side and bit her lip to keep from crying out at the pain it caused. She scanned the area quickly and found Jim. Still lying on the ground, where Emaleen had watched him fall. Not sure if she was calling his name out loud, or if it was only sounding so strongly in her own ears, Emaleen pushed herself up and stumbled to him.

Reaching him in a few painful steps, Emaleen dropped to her knees beside his head. Her hands shaking uncontrollably, she reached out to place two fingers on his neck, feeling for a pulse. Her hand was shaking so much, she had no idea what she was feeling—if she was feeling anything. Her eyes were blurred with tears, and though she looked, she could not tell whether or not his chest was moving.

"Jim," she said, her voice cracked and strained. "Please Jim."

She held his hand with one of hers, and moved the other to cradle his cheek. With a sob that shook her, she began to cry again. She thought she had cried all that she could after she had told Jim about what had happened with her family. She thought she had cried through all that pain, but this was new. This was something fresh, and it hurt her just as much. Jim had known exactly what he was risking, and did it anyway. He placed himself firmly in harm's way to save her. Just as her mother had done, and as her father would have done, had he known the villain he was facing. Jim was the only one she could have saved, but she had not been able to get to him quickly enough. Jim was good, and brave, and he had loved her. Emaleen loved him too, and would have followed him anywhere. She knew it, but never told him.

"Jim, please" Emaleen whimpered, squeezing her eyes shut against the tears, hearing Morph's trill near her hanging head. She had never felt so small. So helpless and lost. "Please say something."