Disclaimer—See Chapter One

A/N:  This is the one and only chapter that does not have any direct B/S interaction in it, but I had to have at least one "action" chapter, so I hope you'll still read and enjoy!  Thank you all so much for your feedback, it means a lot to me!  And, Quadrantje, good question!  Thank you for noticing the little details and asking about them!  I know there are a few loose ends in this story that I just conveniently ignore (for example, what did they do with Ben's body??) but I can answer one of your questions about Ana not questioning why Brennan asked Shalimar about smelling the blood in chapter ten.  I did think of that, so I had Brennan bend down and whisper that line in Shal's ear, with the idea that Ana would not have overheard them.  Hope that answers part of your question at least! J  And CatJerica—just one more cliffhanger for you! J Thanks again, everyone for all your feedback and suggestions, I appreciate it so much!!

Of Wind and Wood—Chapter Fourteen

Thump.  Thump.  Thump.  Consciousness returned to Shalimar in confusing waves.  Her head hurt.  She was on her side, and someone was pulling her by the feet over an uneven surface.  Her head banged on a rough spot, and it vaguely registered in her mind that the thumping in her ears was her own head bouncing against the ground.  The pain intensified, flashing like strobe lights behind her eyes.  Instinctively she tried to throw out her hands to stop the jarring.  They seemed stuck together. 

Her eyes flew open to see a dim earth ceiling not far above her.  It was moving.  What?  She closed her eyes again, concentrating, trying to clear her fogged mind.  Then the realization hit her; she was moving.  Someone had hold of her feet and was dragging her. 

She opened her eyes again and peered into the darkness, lifting her head, fighting the pain and a wave of nausea that followed it.  Gary was dragging her by her feet.  GaryTwisting hard, Shalimar kicked out.  He staggered and let go. 

Shalimar tried to get up and failed.  Her feet were tied.  So were her hands.  She tried again, pain pounding in her head.  This time she managed to get to her knees, but nausea won.  She threw up violently, then hung there, retching.  The pain in her head was blinding.  Gary jerked her back downward.

"Well, well.  You weren't supposed to wake up for a while yet." 

"But how?  I—I thought--Why are you doing this?"  Shalimar's voice was a wheezing croak.  In spite of the pain, she struggled to get up.  "What do you want with me?"

"You thought I was dead?"  His eyes gleamed manically as he laughed.  "Fools!  That's what I wanted you to think."  His foot swung at Shalimar's head.  She dodged, rolling half over, and the blow took her on the shoulder, knocking her onto her face.  She screamed as pain radiated outward from her arm, gasping as he dropped to his knees and clamped a filthy hand over her mouth. 

"Quiet!"

She lay still, glaring up at him as she fought more waves of nausea.  She could hear him moving, his footsteps echoing oddly.  Shalimar tried to lift her head to see what was happening.  The space seemed to spin around her.  She sank back and let her eyes fall shut, willing strength back to her trembling limbs. 

Gary suddenly gave what sounded like a grunt of satisfaction and came back towards Shalimar, grabbing her feet again and dragged her a little ways.  The pain and nausea triggered by the handling were almost too much for her.  She didn't even try to resist.  He dropped her feet, then started pushing at her, trying to roll her across the rough ground. 

In spite of herself, Shalimar groaned.  "No."

Gary's hands bit into her side, rolling her over the gritty dust.  Unable to protect herself, she got a mouthful of the stuff.  Then his feet were on her, shoving until she rolled over again.  She heard him scramble to his feet and back away quickly.  Shalimar opened her eyes to find herself looking at a snake.  She flinched and froze.  No, it wasn't a snake.  It was shed snakeskin, twisted and translucent in the dim light.  The shock cleared her mind.  She blinked and tried to get a better idea of her surroundings.  He had dragged her to the base of the mountain, and she was in a tiny cave, a dry, dusty one.  Her head was pounding with pain.  She focused again on the shed skin. 

Gary's voice was behind her.  "A rattlesnake den is perfect.  Normally a bite wouldn't kill you parse, but by the time they find you, it will be hours later and you, my dear, will be beyond help."

"What do you mean?" Shalimar struggled to follow through the hazy fog in her mind.

"You are laying three feet from a rattlesnake den.  See the shed skins, the excrement?"  Gary spoke as if giving a guided tour.  "A rattlesnake is a venomous and high irritable snake when cornered.  This one is not going to be pleased to find you on its front step.  One wrong move and it will strike.  It has a hemotoxic venom.  You'll die slowly and painfully while your lover unknowingly sits not far from here."  He gave a triumphant cackle.

"Why?"  Shalimar fought to regain control, flexing her arms to test their strength. 

"Oh no you don't!" Gary sprang towards her; teeth bared and pointed the gun at her temple.  "You may be strong, but even you are vulnerable to a bullet.  Or a snake bite," his eyes flickered to the den behind Shalimar, laughing at her surprised expression.  "Yeah, that's right," he crowed as he knelt down and roughly jabbed another needle into her arm, "I know what you are, freak.  And you will lay here and die." 

Shalimar could feel her heart beating, each rapid pulse thumping through her aching head as the fourth dose of drugs coursed through her system and her eyes shuddered shut. 

Brennan clutched Shalimar's necklace in a tight fist as he stalked through the campsite.  Ana heard him coming and dropped the remainder of the bread she was toasting, running to meet him.

"Brennan?"   She stared at him fearfully as she saw his expression.  "No," she started, "Don't say it!"

"She's gone."  Brennan grimly held up the necklace as he glanced up at the darkening clouds above them.  "This is all my fault," he growled.

"But how?"  Ana's lips trembled as she glanced around the campsite.  "Why does this keep happening?"

"I don't know why yet," Brennan's eyes darkened.  "But I shouldn't have insisted she take the painkillers.  She was so groggy, it—it left her too vulnerable."

"But I still don't see how that wouldn't have made much difference?"  Ana turned her frightened gaze back up towards him, shivering at the cold anger seething beneath his calm exterior. 

"Shalimar—she, she's not the sort of person you could normally sneak up on."  His lips pressed together.  "This shouldn't have happened.  I have to find her." 

He whirled around without another word and disappeared between the trees. 

"Hey, Jesse!"  He hollered desperately into his comlink ring.  No answer.  "Jess, if you can hear me, get here now!  We're in trouble!"  He swore and cut the connection as the sky above him released its first fat drops of rain. He resolutely searched the brush where he found the necklace, heart dropping when he found evidence of something being dragged away.  Shalimar. 

Shalimar awoke to the feel of a boot shoving her hard in the back.  She groaned as her eyes fluttered open.  Even closer to the den than before, she froze.  I have to be still.  If she did nothing to irritate the rattler, why would it strike?  Her breath caught in her throat as she willed herself to be calm.  She could just see Gary out of the corner of her eye.  He was crouched on his heels, leaning slightly forward in a way that reminded her of a vulture waiting for its prey to die. 

"The snake will be out soon enough.  That shed skin is fresh, and he'll need to hunt." 

Shalimar lifted her face slightly out of the dirt.  "Gary, at least tell me why."  The dirt in her mouth felt gritty against her teeth.  "You don't want to do this.  They'll be looking for me by now." 

His thins lips spread out into a mocking smile.  "Doesn't matter, they won't find this cave for hours."  He laughed almost hysterically, abruptly cutting off with a startled breath.  "Snake."

There was absolute silence for what felt like ages. Shalimar twisted unsuccessfully, trying to see what was happening.  An odd shushing noise ended the silence. 

Gary's laughter echoed all around her.  "He's going to do it!"

The shushing of scales across dust got louder, closer.  Shalimar was afraid to even move her eyes to see.  She didn't have to.  The snake came into view.  Broad head questing gracefully, he slid towards her.  He paused, lifted his head, and tested the air with his tongue.  Every tiny detail was clear.  His eyes were cloudy.  Shalimar knew well enough about the animal to recognize the cloudy, blue-eyed look of a snake about to shed.  This isn't the same snake that had already shed.  There were two.

Her heart was thumping so hard, Shalimar was afraid it was moving her body enough to irritate the snake.  Half-blind, snakes about to shed were cranky.  This one reared up and sniffed at the strange scent of her, tasting the air again.  He moved closer and closer until he was too near her face for her eyes to focus on him.  She could feel herself involuntarily shaking, and her eyes flashed golden in a defensive mechanism as she stared back, willing him to understand her plea.  The moment seemed to last forever as the snake hung there, just in front of her eyes.  With a smooth movement, he backed up three inches, tasted the air one last time, then turned and slid back into the den.  The breath came out of her, and she went limp with relief. 

Gary swore loudly, "I'll kill you myself!"

There was a scrabbling noise as he came towards her and then stopped.  "No, I'm not going to risk my own life again by getting close to that den.  Not for a piece of trash like you.  You'll irritate them eventually." 

He moved away, muttering under his breath for long moments until his footsteps again stopped somewhere in front of Shalimar as he continued his ranting debate.  "No!  I can't wait for the snakes to do the job.  People will look for you, Ana, the passengers, your darling Brennan." 

Brennan!  His name echoed in Shalimar's mind.  Footsteps again receded as Gary resumed his pacing and muttering.  Silence stretched and hummed with tension as Shalimar lay still, aware of the snake still somewhere behind her.  Something warm trickled down her cheek and across the side of her nose.  The rock against her cheekbone bit into her skin.  Through the pain, she forced herself to be still.  Her arms, doubled up in front of her, ached in rhythmic, throbbing pulses.  She couldn't seem to focus. Thoughts of Brennan kept intruding and muddling with trying to remember if rattlesnakes were nocturnal as the agony in her body increased.

Brennan searched the soggy undergrowth, doing his best to ignore the fear stabbing at him and cursing the sky as it dropping more rain, washing away the faint tracks.  The thought of Shalimar being hurt again hit him like a sucker punch, and he sucked air through his teeth in a quick hiss.  Moving his head from side to side, he jogged down the path, drops of rain hitting the back of his head.  He ran faster.  It was no use.  A flash of lightening outlined each tree in odd blue light.  With the thundering boom came a deluge, as if the thunder had burst the cloud.  In seconds his shirt was plastered to his body.   Grimly, he kept going.  He was on the path that Shalimar went down; all he could hope was that they hadn't turned off.  A close flash of lightening painted the world blue-green.  In that split second, he saw something ahead of him.  A person, tall and thin?  He couldn't be sure.  The shape had been several yards away.  Please let it not be a bear, he pleaded as he started towards the area.  The roaring rain covered any sound as he skidded and slipped in the slick mud.  Something sharp rammed his foot, but he charged on.  Here!  The figure was here.  Brennan stopped and stared into the rough and broken ground.  He wasn't certain of the exact place, but he knew he was close.

Shalimar's eyes popped open again as a gust of damp air hit her cheek and a tiny swirl of wind brought the scent of wet earth.  It was raining. Rigid with tension, she listened, her every sense tuned to any sound.  Gary had paced to the edge of the cave and now was her chance.  With an aching jerk, her body rolled.  Her breath came in gasps as she waited for the thump and sting of a snake strike.  Nothing.  She rolled over again, and again, listening hard before sitting up very slowly.  Pain knifed through her head, and she clenched her jaw and frantically scanned the ground.  No snake in view.  She staggered to her feet, freezing at the sound of the gun hammer clicking.  Shalimar tensed, waiting for the impact of a bullet, her heart pounding painfully. 

"Move!"

She began to step towards the opening. 

"Not that way." Gary's voice was high, brittle.  "You have to go back to the snake den."

"No." Shalimar eyed him.

"Yes!"

"No."  Shalimar stood her ground.  "You're afraid to shoot.  We're too close to the others."

Gary took a step forward, seething.  "Don't test me, my dear.  I could shoot you and still be gone before they found this cave.  Now move!"

The first thing Shalimar knew of Brennan's presence was a snarl.  His shirt plastered to his muscled chest, his mouth open in a roar, he literally flew through the air behind Gary. 

Shalimar's voice tore out of her throat, "Brennan!  Watch out, he's got a gun!"

It was too late.  Gary whirled and brought his gun arm up.  The crack of it firing smacked through the confined space.  Brennan staggered, but kept coming; his body slammed into Gary, the blur of his fist cracked him hard under the jaw.   Lightening flashed and light swung wildly around the cave roof.  There was a sharp double thud, the smack of metal on rock, then silence.