Destroyers of the Lost Garden (The Lost Garden Trilogy Book 3) (9 page)

He kicked Sulina in the back and she whipped her tail around at him. He avoided it the best he could and punched her in the back of her head as hard as he could. The tail lashed out wildly, which told him that he was hurting her. She crawled over to the tree while Knight hung on. The tail cut his face and shoulders several times as he kept up his assault on the Fallen’s leader.

She grabbed the tree trunk with both hands and held on tightly, letting her tail do all of the damage to Knight. The tail finally wrapped around Knight’s neck. Sulina laughed as it started to constrict, cutting off his oxygen.

His thoughts turned to Jess.
Was this how it ended?

If it was supposed to be his destiny to die like that, then he was okay with it. What he wasn’t okay with was that the bitch had crippled his right hand. He hadn’t done anything yet to return the favor.

Her tail!

That was it. He had to try to get that blasted tail out of the way. He gasped as the tail tightened. He positioned himself closer to where her tail was connected to the body. His eyes teared up and his breathing was almost non-existent. He had just enough energy for one last shot. He knew exactly what he had to do. He leaned closer to her, while trying not to inhale her stench and trying to stay conscious. Without further hesitation, he bit down with all of his might on her tail. He bit down a few inches away from where it was connected.

If she hadn’t had her tail wrapped around his neck, he would have thrown up. It was the vilest thing he had ever done…and he wasn’t finished. He bit down further and further as he could hear her wails and screams of pain. His mission wasn’t over yet. It was like biting through a tire that had been placed in an outhouse for several weeks. He closed his eyes and bit harder than he ever had in his life.

Either he would give in or the tail would.

Blood squirted into his mouth as the pressure eased on his neck. The severed tail fell from his mouth as he vomited on the ledge. Evan’s ears filled with the sound of bloodcurdling screams. It sounded like several animals were injured and screaming in unison. Sulina staggered on her feet as her detached tail writhed like a decapitated snake at her feet.

Knight knew he wasn’t finished. Still weak from the vomiting and the fight, he stood up. He had to use every ounce of strength just to stand. Sulina looked at him with anger, not realizing where she stood. Knight sighed and rammed his head into her gut, pushing her over the ledge. The momentum took him with her.

Knight felt a slight breeze as he tumbled through the air. His thoughts shifted to the inevitable stop that he would make once he hit the ground. He just hoped that it had been  enough and closed his eyes bracing for the impact.

The stop wasn’t what he thought it would be. He blinked several times and saw that Jess had caught him before he hit the ground. She smiled through the tears that rolled down her face. Evan forced a smile.

“Please put me down. It’s a little embarrassing.”

She placed him down gently sitting with his back against the side of the mountain.

“I love you, Evan Knight,” Jess said as she kissed his cheek.

“You’ve got a lot of guts to kiss anything that’s been that close to hell,” he replied.

The three remaining Daughters surrounded Sulina’s lifeless body. Blood still squirted from the tail stub.

Knight looked confused.

“Wait a minute. I don’t understand.”

“Understand what, my love?” Jess responded.

He tried to sit up.

“I don’t understand why I painted what I did. You didn’t get a chance to use the flaming sword. In fact, I haven’t even seen the damn thing yet.”

A cold chill went down Jess’ spine. That was part of the prophecy. Where she came from, prophecies were
always
fulfilled.

“Sisters!” She cried out.

The warning came a little too late.

Sulina’s body was no longer lifeless, it was shaking uncontrollably. Jess stood up, as her sisters slowly backed away. The skin on Sulina’s body was ripping apart. It looked like she was molting. As her body was pushed away, the sisters could see that a large, writhing snake-like creature had formed from whatever was inside of Sulina. The mouth formed quickly and its forked tongue flicked repeatedly. The snake’s colors were black and red, the eyes were yellow.

The snake grew rapidly from 6 feet to over 40 feet in less than a minute. Its powerful tail swiped Calisto, Madeira, and Shala back into the forest with one motion. Jess ran toward the snake as it coiled. She jumped up, only to be smacked down. The snake grew even bigger and was about 80 feet long as the head went for the Tree of Life.

“Still you go after our trees?” Jess queried as she attempted to punch and kick the body of the snake to no avail. It was like hitting solid rock.

The snake opened its huge mouth as it attempted to swallow the tree whole. Jess ran up the snake’s back, trying to keep her balance as she slipped and slid on the slick surface. Just as the snake was about to clamp its jaws around the Tree of Life, Jess made it to the head. She grabbed the corner of the mouth and used her body weight to drag the mouth away from the tree. As the snake’s jaws closed she let go and fell to the ground. She twisted her ankle in the fall. The snake’s momentum carried it over to the Tree of Knowledge. When the mighty jaws finally closed, they had engulfed the entire Tree of Knowledge.

“No!” shouted Jess, on deaf ears.

As soon as the tree disappeared from view a bright red, orange, and yellow light appeared between the two ledges. It flickered as something familiar took shape. The flaming sword materialized and levitated in mid-air.

“Never mind my last comment,” Knight said. “Be careful Jess. Know that I love you.”

“I love you, Evan Knight. You have fulfilled your destiny. Now it is my turn,” she said. She wished she was as confident as she sounded.

The snake was writhing in pain from swallowing the Tree of Knowledge. At the same time it tried to bite at the flaming sword to no avail. Every time it got close to it, the sword would pulsate and scare the snake off.

Jess had only one way up to the sword. It was the same way she used when she moved its head away from the Tree of Life. She had to protect the tree at all cost. Every time she approached the snake it swatted at her with its tail. It was in agony and struck out blindly. After the first couple of times she ran back to Knight.

“Evan Knight, I can’t do it. I can’t get to the sword. I have failed my sisters, you, Mother Daughter, and Eden.”

She started to cry as Knight comforted her.

“You haven’t failed anyone. You just have to get it, before the snake consumes everything in Eden. Think about your task, Jess.” 

Evan watched her as she buried her face in her hands.

     “Listen carefully,” Knight said. “You need to go up the snake’s back to get the sword. You can’t do that, because it’s a little nuts after eating the Tree of Knowledge. You have to use what you can to get to the sword. It’s simple physics.”

She smiled and then grimaced.

“I know what I have to do. Thank you, Evan Knight. You really are the Chosen One.”

She sighed and ran toward the snake. She gritted her teeth with each step on the twisted ankle. She looked up at the sword and then the snake’s tail. She jumped up and into the path of it. It swatted her into the mountain about 40 feet away from the sword. She held her side and ran back to the snake, checking the location of the sword again. She jumped up toward the tail and it hit her into the mountain again. This time, she ended up at the base of the ledge. Her ears were ringing and she had a cut on her forehead.

She would not be able to keep that up for long. Even a Daughter of Eve had her limits.

Shala limped out of the forest and froze when she saw the snake.

Jess ran at it again. Her ankle bothered more and more with each attempt. She jumped again and landed on the tail. It whipped around as she tried to hang on. She kept her eyes on the sword as her head started spin. She started to lose her balance, but she knew that it was all up to her. Jess knew she had to find (inside of her), what Evan had found inside of him in order to finish the task.

She felt the tail whip up in the air. That was her chance. She saw the ledge that she needed to be on. Her head spun so much she almost fell off of the snake’s back but she knew it was her last chance; Eden would be lost if she couldn’t do it.

Jess’ arms shook as she pushed herself off of the snake. She could barely see the ledge as she twisted her body for the right angle to land. Her back slammed into the mountain. She slid down and suddenly stopped. She was there.

There was no time for celebration as she slowly stood to see the snake was finally getting its bearings. Her gaze went to the sword and then the snake; it was gearing up to eat both her and the tree. She cleared her mind and thought of nothing but the sword and Evan Knight.

If this was to be her last battle, then she would die saving her beloved Evan. Nothing was worth more than that.

She yelled as her body ached, and ran with everything she had toward the sword; launching herself from the ledge. It was all or nothing.

Out of the corner of her eye, Jess saw the snake open its jaws as she stretched for the sword. Her fingers grasped the hilt and she smiled as the snaked closed its mouth around her.

It fell to the ground and coiled up while it faced Knight. He forced himself to stand up as he glared at the snake.

“Come on, you son of a bitch! I will crawl down into your ugly gut and pull my woman out of there! Come on!”

It was about to strike, when it’s underside started to glow red. Knight backed up against the base of the mountain. The snake appeared to be in pain and started to swing its head back and forth. It slammed its head several times into the ground as the red glow grew brighter.

All of a sudden, the snake exploded. Pieces of snake flew in every direction. Knight hid his eyes from the explosion, but he was covered in snake guts.

“Great. I will never get this stench off of me.”

When he saw Jessima IL Eve standing in the middle of the carnage. Evan’s heart was filled with joy. She stood before him wielding the flaming sword just as she did in his painting.
It was finally over.

Epilogue

Calisto, Shala, Madeira, Jess, and Knight sat with their backs up against the base of the mountain as they heard a helicopter getting close.

Knight looked confused when he saw the Chinook that had taken Alexey out of Eden returning.

Jess helped Knight up. All five of them walked slowly toward where the Chinook landed. The sliding side doors opened and Geronimo jumped out.

“Hey, dudes! Wow. You guys look like shit. I’m kind of glad I was out there. I take it we won?”

Knight bowed his head.

“We had considerable losses, but yeah. I guess we did.”

Boris Milek stepped out as well. He was smiling.

“I would like to congratulate you on your victory. I too, have been victorious.” He stepped out of the way to reveal Alexey Konstantin and the Iranian pilot bound and gagged. “We will take our leave now.”

Geronimo gently placed his hand on Knight’s shoulder.

“Once you and Jess tie up your loose ends, we can be on our way.”

Knight smiled at Jess. She smiled back at him.

“You’re not coming back, are you?” Geronimo said, with less enthusiasm.

“No, Geronimo. We’re not going back,” Knight said confidently. “Somebody has to get things back up and running around here.”

That’s fantastic!” Geronimo replied sarcastically. “I’m going to miss you both.”

Shala looked at Milek.

“How do we know we can trust that the mortals will keep our secret?”

Milek smiled.

“The world appears to be a better place with you Amazons in it. We will not disclose your location.”

“Daughters of Eve,” Jess corrected.

Calisto smiled at Jess.

“Actually we need a new Mother Daughter. I nominate Jessima IL Eve!”

“I second the nomination!” shouted Madeira.

Jess looked at Shala. “What about you Shala?”

Shala glared at Jess. “I make it unanimous.”

Jess embraced her sisters as she stared at Shala.

“I feel that my first order of business is to find out who the traitor was.”

Calisto walked up to Milek. “Would it be alright if we came with you? All we would need is a ride to the outskirts of any city.”

“Yes,” Shala added. “We would like to see the world again. It’s been a very, very long time.”

Jess nodded. “Please leave the other helicopter here. We will have to get supplies from time to time.”

“Agreed,” Milek said. We must go if we are going.”

He got back into the helicopter.

Calisto and Madeira also got in. They were excited to see the outside world. Right before Shala got in she leaned to Jess and said, “The traitor is dead, Jessima.”

Geronimo hugged Evan tightly. “I got to tell you “Evan.” those guys in black are pretty cool.”

“You know who they are, don’t you?” Knight responded.

“Hell yeah!” replied Geronimo as he laughed. “But they picked up your tank from the hillside and helped me fry some Iranians. I owe ‘em. You and Jess take care. I have a great adventure to tell Molly about.”

Jess was about to say something, but Geronimo continued, “Don’t worry. I’ll be sure to leave out certain details.” He winked and gave Jess a bear hug.

***

As the Chinook flew out of sight, Jess and Knight were alone for the first time.

Knight looked concerned.

“I’m honored I was helpful in fulfilling the prophecy. I’m just worried.”

“About Shala?” Jess responded. “She got what she wanted. She is free to move about the world and explore it as she likes. I assume that will keep her busy enough.”

“Yeah,” Knight replied, matter-of-factly. “I guess we can start with the repopulation now.”

“Evan Knight!” she said, as she playfully slapped his shoulder.

“One thing though, Jess,” he said. “When it comes to things like Eden…there always has to be a representative for good and a representative for evil. Good has you in its corner. So who’s the evil?”

Jess said nothing as she kissed him.

The End

Thank you for reading the

Evan Knight Trilogy

I hope you enjoyed it.

~~~~~

Also available:

The Minoan Mask

Chyna Stone Adventure #1

by K.T. Tomb

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