Its clawed hands flexed and twisted.
“Welcome,” Josel cried. “I offer you these mainlanders as a gift to Dagon, to satisfy his hunger upon awakening. May this humble gesture make up for our failure to keep them off the island.”
When the Dark One did not respond, Josel began speaking in a strange, guttural tongue. It focused on him, and when he was done, the creature smiled, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth. A long, forked tongue flickered through the air as it hissed with delight.
“Y-you betrayed us,” Keoni gasped, wheeling on Josel. “How could you do this?”
“There was never any choice. I am sorry, my friends. Believe me. Were that this was another life, and I could have a wife and children and grandchildren. But this is not that life, and I am not that person. I serve the Dark Ones as my father did before me.”
“So you planned this all along?”
“Yes. If it is any consolation, once Great Dagon has awoken, none of this will matter anyway.”
Keoni shook his head. “You bastard.”
Growling, the Dark One stepped forward. The other creatures followed, as did the boy. Susan whimpered and gasped. Ed stepped protectively in front of her, but Jennifer noticed that his face was pale and his forehead shone with sweat. His hands trembled. He was breathing heavily, and Jennifer wondered if he were about to have a heart attack. She glanced at Wade, but his attention was focused on the advancing lizard-men. His bloodshot eyes were wide. The Dark Ones spread out before them, backing the hapless humans closer toward the circle of statues and the floating pool within it. To keep from screaming, Jennifer took a deep, shuddering breath—and immediately wished she hadn’t. The stench wafting off their captors was horrible; they stank of brine and rotten fish.
Jennifer became aware of another presence in the room—or perhaps nearby. It was unseen. Unheard. But definitely present. She could feel it pressing down on her, an almost palpable, physical emotion that seemed to drift out of the vertical pool of water. Whatever it was, the sensation filled her with dread. She sensed a vast, cruel intelligence, and realized that it was aware of her presence. Indeed, it seemed to be aware of all of them. The entity projected psychic waves of annoyance and hate that seemed to crash over her. Jennifer’s head began to hurt—a deep, piercing ache that throbbed behind her left eye. Wade rubbed his temple and she assumed he was feeling it, too.
Josel stepped past the captives and spread his hands in a welcoming gesture. The Dark Ones stopped, staring at him with their yellow, unblinking eyes. The boy chattered something at him. Although Jennifer couldn’t understand the words, there was no mistaking the tone. The youth was angry for some reason. He seemed displeased with the old man’s presence. His voice rose in pitch and he gestured wildly with his hands, pointing at Jennifer, Keoni, Ed, Susan and Wade and then back to Josel. The Dark Ones and the scientists watched the exchange. Anger and impatience flashed across Josel’s features. He snapped something at the boy and shook his fist. The two began to argue in their native tongue.
Wade leaned closer to Keoni and whispered, “What are they saying?”
“The boy was leading the Dark Ones to us. The big one there?” Keoni pointed at the largest Dark One. “Apparently, he’s the leader. The boy referred to him as the Elder. It seems he’d promised to lead the Elder to us in exchange for them sparing his life. He’s not happy that Josel beat him to it, and he’s even less happy that Josel intended us to be snacks for Dagon.”
The argument between Josel and the boy grew more heated. Jennifer watched as the Elder and the other Dark Ones grew increasingly impatient. The two natives seemed oblivious to their human and reptilian audience. Josel curled his hand into a fist and raised it as if to strike the boy. The young man bared his teeth and glared at him.
Releasing a sudden hiss that reminded Jennifer of a hot steam iron, the Elder stepped forward and seized the youth by the back of the neck. Startled, the boy yelped. His eyes went wide and his mouth gaped as the lizard man’s curved talons ripped through his flesh. Jennifer and the others screamed and gasped as the Elder plunged its hand into the wound, burrowing deep into the boy’s flesh. The young native’s eyes rolled white in his head, He shuddered and jerked like a puppet on the end of the Dark One’s hand. Then, with one mighty pull, the Dark One wrenched the boy’s spine from his back and raised it over his head. There was a sound like breaking sticks accompanied by other sounds, wet, splashing, as the boy’s ribs were broken. Jennifer felt drops of warm blood splatter her face when the boy’s spine was yanked out of his body amid an explosion of blood. The youth crumpled to the floor, dead. The Elder swung the gory prize, using it to whip Josel across the face. The other reptilians laughed.