by Deck Davis
The flame arrows stuck in the ground and gave them some light, though it struggled against the thick fog. Jake could see the monster clearly now; it sprinted at them with a clumsy gait, almost as if it wasn’t used to moving so fast. At full stretch it was a lot bigger than he’d realized.
Someone grabbed his left arm. Knowing Faei was to his right, he slashed out with his dagger, then turned and saw a warrior stumbling back and holding his arm. The other two warriors closed in on them.
“The git with the stupid moustache has a dagger!” said the warrior he’d slashed.
Faei nocked a flame arrow, aimed at the fog beast and was about to let it rip, when suddenly, the fog beast stood on its hind legs and bellowed into the sky.
Jake felt something change. At first, he didn’t know what it was. Then, he realized that the fog around them was starting to turn a pond-water green. He breathed in, and as soon as he did, messages flashed in front of him.
Poison damage taken! HP: 160/172
It must have been one of the fog beast’s powers. Not only did they have to deal with the warriors and the beast itself, but now, even the air was hurting them.
Just as she loosened her bolt, Faei choked on the foul air, ruining her aim. The bolt sailed harmlessly beyond the fog beast and disappeared into the mist.
“It’s changed the fog,” said Faei. “Do you have any poison resist potions?”
“Just healing potions.”
“Some alchemist you are!”
“Hey! Cason couldn’t have warned us about this a little. Let’s deal with these guys and then we’ll talk about what a shitty alchemist I am.”
The warriors started coughing too. At least that meant the poison was doing just as much damage to them.
“Take out the beast first, then we’ll deal with the sword bozos,” said Faei. “I’m not worried about these beer-bellied tavern rats.”
“Speak for yourself, lady” grunted a voice through the fog. “I’ll tear your tits off.”
Jake gripped his dagger. It’d be useless to charge at the beast, since it was much bigger than he was. Instead, he’d need to wait for it to approach, then try and be clever about it. Avoid its attacks, then get in some stabs with his dagger.
That would have been all well and good, except the beast wasn’t making any move to approach them. Instead, it raised its clawed front paws, clapped them together with a boom, then gave another bestial shout.
This time, the fog didn’t change. The beast’s second attack was much worse than poisoned fog.
Jake heard the sound of scraping on the rocky ground. It sounded like it was coming from all around him, like thousands of tiny feet scrambling over the stone.
Soon, he saw with horror that the spider-like insects were crawling out of their holes in the ground. There were thousands of the pincered-pests, and they were closing in on Jake, Faei and the warriors.
They were screwed. Completely, and utterly screwed. They had three warriors to their left, a humongous fog beast to their right and thousands of evil little critters scurrying toward them. Jake gripped his dagger but knew it’d be next to useless in a fight.
What else could he use? A healing potion? Kill them with tough love? He had the brittle bone potion, but the fog beast seemed like it was made of rubber. Maybe he could use it on the warriors, but they were so close that there was a risk that when he threw the potion, it’d splash back on him and Faei.
Faei nocked and fired four flame arrows, forming a square of burning bolts in the ground. Jake breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the fire repelled the insects.
Warded away from Jake and Faei by the fire, the little creatures homed in on the warriors instead. The sword-wielding men realized all too late that they were the target of the insects. The stringy haired warrior started to slash with his sword, cleaving dozens of them with a swipe, but it wasn’t enough. The insects leapt onto him, clambering up his leather and finding parts where his armor didn’t quite cover him, then stabbing him with his pincers.
Soon, all three warriors wore overcoats comprised of scurrying, demented spider-like creatures. One of them screamed and ran away into the distance, disappearing into the mists amidst a cacophony of wails.
The stringy-haired man madly brushed the insects off him. Blood seeped from welts where the insects had bitten his bare hands and face. One of the creatures climbed up his greasy hair and reached the top of his head.
Poison damage taken! HP: 150/172
This just wasn’t letting up. He was losing 10HP every time the fog damaged him. How long did that give him? Around thirty minutes, if he was lucky.
“How’s your health?” asked Jake.
“The poison’s taking 20 HP off me every few minutes.”
Damn. As an alchemist, Jake must have had a higher poison resistance than Faei. He needed to help her.
He opened his leather bag, took out a health potion and tossed it to Faei. She uncorked it, drank it back, then nocked another arrow.
The stringy haired warrior’s friend screamed. He was covered head to toe in insects, and they were jabbing him with their pincers in unison. He struggled to get rid of them but no sooner were a few of them gone, then a dozen more took their place. There was something unsettling about the sound they made as they clambered up his armor. Delicate little taps, but dozens of them at once.
The stringy haired warrior took a bottle out of his coat pocket. Grunting with pain, he uncorked it.
Was it a potion of some kind? It didn’t seem like it. The warrior splashed the liquid all over himself, dousing his metal chest plate and leather greaves in it. Whatever it was, it smelled stronger than industrial-level alcohol. Jake felt like it should be getting him drunk with every breath.
He ran over to one of Faei’s flame bolts, wrenched it out of the ground, and then pressed the flame against his chest.
He went up in a whoosh of flames. The insects on him screamed in a high-pitched way, and their bodies made crackling sounds as the fire took hold. Some of them dived off and then scurried away into the mist while the flames devoured their bodies.
Free from insects, the warrior dropped the ground and then rolled along it to put out the flames.
Faei’s bolts whizzed through the air. One, two, three of them, each lighting up another section of the mist with amber flame, expanding their square of protection from the pincered insects.
It had bought them some time, but that would count for nothing unless Jake did something about the fog beast. Soon, the flames would burn out. Faei would run out of mana, and she wouldn’t be able to use her spectral powers. Fleeing wasn’t an option, since as soon as they left the protection of the flame arrows, the insects would devour them.
He needed to take care of the fog beast. It was obviously intelligent. Instead of attacking them head on, it was content to wait at the sidelines for the insects and the poison fog to do its work. They were at a stalemate. Eventually, Faei’s flame arrows would burn out, and their square of protection would be gone.
Come on. Think.
Then he had it.
“How many flame arrows do you have?” he said.
“I can only make two or three more,” said Faei. “Then I’m down to regular bolts.”
“Can you hit it through the fog?”
“I can barely see it! The fog’s thickening too much.”
“Even so, it’s the only way.”
She shook her head. “And what if we kill it? We still need to make our way out of the crater, so we’re gonna need fire so keep these little pincered bastards away.”
“No. They only attacked us when the fog beast did it’s shouty-clappy thing, remember? They responded to it. Until then, they were pretty docile. I think if we kill it, the insects will go.”
“That’s the kind of gamble that gets you killed. We need another way.”
“There is no other way. We can’t get close to the beast without leaving the flame square. And if we can’t get close to it, we can’t
kill it. It’s just gonna wait there until the flames go out. This is the only chance.”
“I need a better shot. I need more light.”
The warriors’ screams died down. Since they had seemed intent of killing Jake, that seemed like a good thing. Or it would have been, had it not meant that a) the pincer insects were extremely bloody deadly, and b) they were waiting on the outskirts of the flame square to kill them.
“If I get you more light, how many shots do you have?”
“Three. And then I’m out of mana completely.”
One of the flame bolts in the ground flickered. He thought it was going to go out, but it held firm, though the flames lessened. His heartbeat raced.
“Okay, worst comes to worst. Say we kill the beats, and the insects don’t quit. We’re just gonna have to run for it, yeah?”
Faei sucked in her cheeks. She obviously wasn’t a fan of his plan. “Damn it all to Hurlogh’s stinking pits. There’s no other way. Fine. We kill the beast and then run like hell.”
Jake took a deep breath. “Okay. I’ll get you some more light. As soon as you have it, take your shots.”
With the rune in his hand, he moved away from Faei and edged toward the perimeter of their flame square. Every step took him closer to the fog beast. Although it sent a flutter of nerves through him, something told him he’d be okay. As long as the insects were out, the fog beast seemed reluctant to approach.
There were two flame arrows behind him now, and two in front. As he approached it, the left arrow in front of him flickered a little, and the flames lessened. They still glowed enough to penetrate the fog, but he didn’t have long. If the arrows died out, he was screwed.
“Jake!” shouted Faei behind him.
He turned around. Faei seemed to be fine. There weren’t any insects near her, at any rate. So what was wrong?
Then he noticed it. One of the flame arrows behind him had died out.
She must have been trying to warn him.
Faei nocked an arrow and aimed at a patch of ground near the arrow.
“Save your shot for this ugly mother!” Jake shouted.
Then he turned back to face the silhouette of the fog beast thirty feet ahead of him. “No offence,” he added.
He was keeping a brave face about it, but his heart was pounding. Just three arrows left. Three of the only things keeping the pincered crawlers at bay.
The arrow ahead and to his right flickered. The flames weakened. The one on the left was barely brighter than a candle now. It was enough to ward the fire-phobic critters, but not for long.
He crept forward as close as he dared until the flame arrows were a few feet away, and the fog beast was just beyond them.
The left arrow flickered again, and then the flames died completely. He felt the sudden onset of darkness like a punch to the stomach.
He moved to his right, closer to the remaining flame arrow. He had to work quickly. Luckily, there wasn’t much to do. He took the rune and placed it on the ground. Thin tendrils of web-like yellow light spun out and crossed the ground, casting dim glows in the fog. They reached the patch of herbs near the fog beast and lit up further, this time casting a streetlamp-like glow on the monster.
He turned back around. “That enough?” he yelled.
Faei shouted something, but he couldn’t hear her. He watched, and saw she was waving her arms. What was she saying?
He didn’t want to keep his back to the fog beast, even if it wasn’t moving. Ye turned around.
His throat closed up.
The flame arrow on the right had died out.
And then he heard the scuttling of hundreds of tiny little legs on the crater ground.
Without even thinking, he tore across the ground and headed toward Faei. The insects were giving him chase, and part of him wanted to turn and see how many there were and how close they were, but he couldn’t. He just needed to run.
Ahead of him, Faei nocked an arrow, took aim. Jake listened out for the shriek of the fog beast…
…and heard nothing.
“Damn,” said Faei. She lined up another bolt. Her face was locked in concentration.
The scuttling was catching up to him. They were definitely getting closer. Without the protective glow of the flames, he felt naked. He imagined their razor pincers stabbing his skin and tearing him apart. He imagined them swarming him, crawling over his skin, the hairy bristles on their limbs stroking him.
Another bolt sailed over his head. He saw a brief trail of fire and then listened out, hoping beyond hope that Faei’s aim was true.
Nope. He’d gotten her more light to aim it, but it must not have been enough.
Something jumped on his shoulders. He heard a clacking sound in his ear, and realized it was the sound of two pincers chomping together. It was feeling him out and getting ready for a taste.
He brushed it off. He pushed the tiredness in his legs to the furthest reaches of his mind and sprinted like he never had before. His lungs ached and his legs were heavy.
Another insect latched on to him. Then another. One leapt onto his head and crawled through his hair. Its leg pressed against his temple. He smashed it away with his palm, and felt its leg crush and break against his skin.
“Jake! Duck!”
Without a second of pause he ducked his head, but he didn’t go to the ground. That would have been suicide. Instead he kept running as the critters latched on to him. The protection of the last remaining flame arrow got closer and closer, burning a dim orange not far away from Faei.
She nocked an arrow. She closed one eye and took aim.
And then the last flame arrow gave out. Now, the only light came from behind him, where the run sent its cobwebs of yellow. The critters closed in on Jake, on Faei. He heard the scuttling at a tremendous volume.
There must have been thousands! They were done for. This was it.
And then flames trailed across the air, and he felt a whoosh of air as the flame bolt sailed above him. He spun round. In the flicker of flames he saw the silhouettes of hundreds of pincer insects closing in on him. There was nothing to do now but swing madly with his dagger and take as many out as possible.
The bolt struck home. It punctured the fog beast on its chest, approximately where a human’s heart would be. Its rubbery flesh popped, and then there was a hiss of air. The fog beast let out an agonizing scream, one so twi8sted and high pitched that it hurt Jake’s ears.
An insect leapt up at him. He swung his dagger, cleaving in two.
The fog beast’s flesh was flat against its body like a popped balloon, as if all the moisture in it had leaked out when the bolt pierced it. Flames devoured its flaps of skin. It fell to the ground and writhed in agony, screaming and flailing and trying to out the flames out. In a few seconds, its struggle was ended.
Now, the only sound was that of the insects scuttling on the ground. Why hadn’t they died?
Faei screamed. He wanted to turn, but he felt insects leap up on to him. One of them jabbed his forearm and sent a wave of hot pain through him.
It hadn’t worked. The fog beast was dead, but the insects were still coming.
He lashed out with his dagger again and again and again, but still they came. Another set of pincers stabbed into the side of his neck. He swiped it away, cutting his own skin with his dagger. He didn’t care anymore. Pain or no pain, he’d go out fighting. He wouldn’t give them an easy meal. He wouldn’t…
And then the insects leapt off him. He felt their weight leave him. He heard them scuttling, and breathed out a long sigh of relief as the sounds grew distant. He stood, still clutching his dagger, and listened.
They were gone. They must have gone back into their holes. It hadn’t looked good for a while, but it seemed he’d been right. With the fog beast gone the insects had stopped attacking.
“You okay?” he said.
He heard Faei groan in the darkness. He stumbled through the fog, using the sounds of her groaning as a guide. The fog seemed to
have thickened, though mercifully, the poison effects had stopped.
“Faei?”
He heard her move. It sounded as if she was getting to her feet.
“I’ll live,” she said. “Let’s get out of here. If I ever see anything with more than four legs again, I’m burning it alive.”
“We better get the herbs. I haven’t gone through all this to go home empty handed.”
“Good thinking.”
He turned around to face the rune light thirty feet behind him. When he did, a shock of dread hit him.