Catalyst by Dani Worth Read Free Book Online

just as the thing launched from the trees.
    Bastian swung and the lizard flew back into the thick, gnarled trunk of the tree before using its long tail to whip itself upright and slither toward us. I jumped to the side just as it reached me and swiped my right hand down fast, lodging the knife in a hide so thick, shock reverberated up my arm with the blow. It released a hissing scream and slithered around to attack me again. When its front came off the ground, I brought up my left hand and stabbed it under the long snout. Hot, sticky blood flowed over my hands, splattering all over my shirt and pants, and before I could rip out my knife, Bastian grabbed a huge rock and bashed the top of its head in.
    It twitched on the ground and I stared down it, breathing so hard my lungs hurt. It had to be twelve feet long and its upper body was massive—the size of a small Earth pony. The legs had come back out of the body as it had jumped at me and the claws on each foot were longer than my fingers. “I hope there aren’t a lot of these on this world.”
    We both looked up as leaves rustled over our heads. He grimaced. “I think there are. Better grab your knives. It brought friends.”
    I quickly knelt and had to use all my strength to pry my knives loose from the thick, rough hide. “We’re running this time. Grab the packs.”
    Bastian swiped up both packs and together we ran. Slithering sounds stayed with us as we swerved around obstacles. Thick underbrush filled most of the space but the ground was covered in masses of tangled root systems from the trees, some of them so large, we had to climb over them. My head pounded, the pain growing worse as we ran, and when I stumbled over a huge stone, Bastian caught my arm before I could fall.
    “Look,” he said, pointing at the ground.
    A black puddle of ooze bubbled in front of me.
    “I don’t think that’s something we want on us.” He turned, his long hair swinging around to slap my face. “We have to keep moving.”
    The slithering sound behind me raised bumps all over my skin. Another noise to our left caught my attention, and I concentrated long enough to figure it out. “Do you hear water?”
    He nodded and tugged on my hand, pulling me in that direction.
    “Wait, that thing looked like it could be a water creature.”
    He shook his head. “It was up in a tree, so I’m guessing it’s not, though that doesn’t mean those things can’t swim.” He looked up when leaves swished over our heads. “But water could mean less overhead danger.”
    “Good point.” I ran left, grimacing when we instantly hit another batch of massive tree roots. We had to slow to squeeze between them, and the entire time sweat ran down my back and chest because all I could think about was getting stuck and having one of those lizard-snake things jump me.
    The noise grew louder. “Sounds like a waterfall,” I said on a heavy oomph as I slammed into a bush. Something crawled over my hand and I caught a black and leggy insect the size of a gorvo fruit out of the corner of my eye. Shaking my hand, I scrambled to untangle myself from the foliage, leaves sticking in my hair, branches scratching my arms. Bastian reached inside the bush and wrapped strong fingers around my arms before pulling me free.
    “We’re close,” he said, raising his voice over the sound of the loud falls. We ran toward the noise and burst from the trees to find a huge mountain lake with a waterfall unlike anything I’d ever seen. It stretched hundreds of feet into the air, but what really shocked me were the ancient, manmade stone structures that flanked the falls. They were built right into the mountain walls all the way down to the ground. Thick moss draped everything. Tree roots had grown into the structure.
    “Whoever lived here is long gone.” I stepped near so he could hear me, before moving closer to the water. “I don’t suppose those packs had any water testers in them?”
    We both spun when loud noises