Chapter 19
Kuja woke with a start the next morning, as a low, menacing hiss disturbed his sleep. The sound was all around their makeshift camp; it was impossible to tell which direction it was coming from, or whether there were one or more entities making the noise. Kuja's entire body tensed, and he struggled to his feet, bracing himself in a fighting position.
"Do you hear that Zaruyon?" he asked softly.
The great dragon had already lumbered to his feet and stood ready, his tail thrashing back and forth menacingly. I hear it, he confirmed. You know what it is, don't you?
"Snow drake," Kuja whispered.
Yes.
Kuja looked around wildly, trying to predict where it would attack from. But the mountain had strange acoustics. One never knew if a sound would be muffled or echoed, and Kuja couldn't for the life of him pinpoint the source of the noise.
"Come out!" he called. "We mean you no harm! We simply wish an audience with the Queen."
Traitor, came the voice in his mind, layered with distaste. You are not fit to see our Queen. You are not fit to be food for our kind! You are pathetic. Worthless. Betrayer.
"I wish to meet with your Queen," Kuja repeated. "Please-"
But that was as far as he got before the drake attacked.
Its body blended so completely with the snow that he didn't see it until the glittering golden eyes were a foot away from him, and by then it was far too late. Kuja gasped as he felt the sharp, piercing teeth of the drake sink into the soft flesh between his neck and shoulder. From the instant he felt the pain, Kuja knew that a wound of this magnitude would be fatal.
Something whizzed past Kuja's ear and suddenly the drake was gone. Zaruyon's lashing tail had hit it dead on, sending it sprawling a good distance away. From this distance, Kuja could just barely make out that it was male. Kuja stared at the inert body for a moment before slowly folding in on himself and collapsing gently onto the snow.
Kuja! came Zaruyon's anguished cry.
"Is he dead?" Kuja asked, finding it slightly difficult to speak past the pain.
If he isn't, I'll finish him. Zaruyon's tone was murderous.
"Zaruyon-" but he couldn't manage anything else. The pain was so dazzlingly intense that he couldn't seem to squeeze words past it. But what was worse was the mental anguish.
'I failed. I failed, and now Blank will die, and I will die as well. I will die alone, on a forsaken mountain, without even my brother...' Kuja could have wailed if he had had the strength.
"Zaruyon," he said, trying again to speak, forcing each and every word past the pain with gritted teeth, "please... tell... brother... sorry."
You will not die, Kuja, said Zaruyon softly.
"...Poison," Kuja managed. Already he could feel the effects of the venom, like iron bands around his lungs, squeezing the air out of him. His wound was much closer to the heart and lungs than Blank's had been. His death would be quicker.
No. I will not let you die. Zaruyon's voice had become strangely calm and devoid of emotion. You will live, because I will give you my immunity to the poison.
Kuja tried to concentrate on what Zaruyon was saying, but the pain was making his mind hazy. How on Gaia could he get Zaruyon's immunity?
Speech finally becoming an impossibility, he switched to the much easier telepathy. Impossible, he thought. You can't give me your immunity. You'd have to give up your entire life force to me, and that would kill...
He trailed off and his eyes widened as it dawned on him exactly what Zaruyon was planning to do.
"No!" he choked out, forgetting in his panic to use mind speech. "No, please! Za...yon! No!"
It is the only way, Kuja.
"No!" Now, in addition to the pain, Kuja welt grief well up to impede his speech. "What about... mountain...? How... down?"
You will not be able to get down if you are dead, Kuja. This is what I want. I will give you my life force, and with it, my immunity to the venom. If you can live by my sacrifice, then my life will have been worthwhile.
"No! Zaruyon!"
Remember Kuja, you are a dragonbond. Dragonbonds are rare, but when they occur in a mortal, then we are bound to look to that mortal as our leader. You are our Lord, Kuja. We must serve you. It is our duty. Remember that. We look to you. You must never forget your position.
Kuja felt cold with dread. He wanted to beg Zaruyon, plead with him not to go, not to leave him alone on this mountain. But in the face of Zaruyon's steadfast determination, words would not come. Instead there was only pain, and anguish, and despair.
Goodbye, Kuja, said Zaruyon. It was an honor to serve you.
And then the great dragon closed his eyes, slumped to the ground, and was still.
A sound came from Kuja that started as a moan, and grew to a wail as he felt Zaruyon's strength flow into him. His wound knitted shut as the dragon's life force flowed into his veins, rejuvenating his cells, bringing with it the immunity that neutralized the poison, letting him breathe once again and clearing his mind of the haze that had begun to surround it.
And as his energy came back, all he could do was scream. Zaruyon's body lay inert in front of him. Kuja struggled to his feet, tears streaming down his face, and stumbled forward, towards the corpse of his friend. As he lay his hands on the scales, he felt that they were cold. Unlike natural death, this sacrifice had completely removed the life from him. He would not rise again.
Kuja closed his eyes. "You will not have died in vain, friend," he said through clenched teeth. Summoning a small bit of the magic that was now brimming within him, he sent a spark of arcane fire into the dragon's flesh, setting the inert form ablaze in a magnificent funeral pyre.
He stepped back, and watched, his eyes brimming with tears, as Zaruyon's body was consumed by the fire.
Oh God, that was hideous. Take me back.
or
Oh God, that was hideous. Let me complain to the author.