by Clayton Wood
Then he blinked, his shield vanishing. He paused, then stared down at his hands. His eyes grew wide with terror.
Then he screamed.
Mr. Tenson lurched backward, losing his balance and falling onto his butt on the hard stone below. One of the other Death Weavers rushed to help him, and Mr. Tenson turned on the man, his eyes wild.
The Death Weaver's shield vanished, and he burst into flames.
The other Death Weavers converged around the burning man, a stream of water appeared out of thin air to douse the flames. Mr. Tenson roared at them, a shockwave exploding outward from around him, knocking the other Death Weavers backward and dissolving their shields. They toppled to the ground, the orange spore-cloud swirling all around them.
Darius pulled Kyle backward, motioning for Ariana to grab Kalibar and do the same. Kyle tore his gaze from Mr. Tenson, looking back at the other Death Weavers. Without their shields, the men were exposed to the spores around them, and soon they too were coughing puffs of orange.
Then all hell broke loose.
One of the Weavers stretched out his hand, a geyser of flame shooting right at Mr. Tenson. Mr. Tenson leapt into the flames, his clothes igniting instantly. He screamed in agony as the fire ate at his flesh, falling to his knees on the rocky ground. Another Death Weaver shouted something incomprehensible, stumbling away from the others, then tripping over a rocky outcropping, falling flat on his face. He writhed on the ground, flailing his arms and legs wildly.
A shrill scream pierced the air from above.
The massive maggot-creature burst downward through the cloud of spores, its slender legs perched on the mushroom tops above. It swung its long, tapered backside below its body, curling it forward until the orifice at the end was aiming right at the maddened Death Weavers. Its tail pulsed, a jet of clear liquid shooting outward in a wide spray, showering the group of men. Smoke immediately began billowing upward from their red uniforms. Their skin bubbled up, then blackened, the slime eating rapidly through their flesh.
The Death Weavers' screams echoed through the cavern.
Kyle sprinted down the tunnel away from the Death Weavers, following Darius. After a few agonizing moments, the horrible screaming died away, leaving the cavern in silence.
Kyle looked back over his shoulder.
All that remained of Mr. Tenson and the Death Weavers were smoking, blackened husks strewn across the glowing white moss. The monster that had massacred them was nowhere to be seen. Kyle's stomach churned, and he turned away from the horrid sight.
Then, without warning, the huge maggot-creature descended in front of them, cutting them off!
Ariana screamed, skidding to a stop and pulling Kalibar back from the terrible beast. Kyle nearly fell trying to stop, and Darius grabbed him, pulling him backward.
The monster opened its mouth, emitting an ear-splitting shriek.
Kyle cried out, covering his ears with his hands and following Darius down the corridor toward the fallen Death Weavers. He glanced over his shoulder, seeing the maggot-creature lift its body up above the mushroom-tops, vanishing into the darkness beyond.
Oh god oh god oh...
He felt something crunch under his foot, and looked down, realizing he'd stepped right onto one of the Death Weavers' blackened corpses. He felt a wave of revulsion, but ignored it, sprinting as fast as he could. After a few harrowing minutes, Darius slowed down, then came to a stop. He turned around, peering down the cave behind them. Kyle stopped beside him, bending over and putting his hands on his knees. Sweat poured from him, his heart threatening to hammer through his chest.
“What was,” Kyle gasped, “...that thing?”
“What's going on?” Kalibar asked. “Darius, describe everything to me.”
Darius complied, describing the giant creature, and what it had done to the Death Weavers.
“Sounds like a Dire Lurker,” Kalibar replied. “Damn!”
“What?” Kyle asked.
“It's blocking our escape,” Kalibar explained. “And it's only a matter of time before they send more Death Weavers...or worse.”
Kyle went cold, knowing all too well what that meant.
“Wait,” Ariana said, staring down the long, mushroom-lined tunnel. “The orange mist...it made them crazy, right?”
“Yeah,” Kyle agreed. “Why?”
“Well...” Ariana began, then gestured around them. Kyle blinked, realizing that the air around them had a slight orange tint to it. His breath caught in his throat; they were surrounded by the stuff! It was far less concentrated than it had been for Mr. Tenson, but still...
A shrill scream came from directly above, sharp pain lancing through his left ear. Kyle clutched his ears, falling onto his elbows and knees on the hard ground, tears streaming down his face. The scream stopped abruptly; Kyle felt hands grabbing him, and turned to see Ariana behind him, her eyes cast upward, wide with terror.
The Dire Lurker burst through the orange mist above them, deadly slime dripping down from its pale body. Its rear swooped down through the mist, curling forward until the hole at the very end was pointing right at them. Clear fluid dripped from the orifice.
“Kalibar,” Darius shouted, turning the former Grand Weaver around to face the horrid creature. “Make a shield in front of you now!”
The creature's tail spasmed, a jet of deadly fluid spraying out at them. Kyle screamed, throwing his hands in front of him and squeezing his eyes shut. He waited for the inevitable pain, the agony of feeling his flesh melt from his bones.
But nothing happened.
Kyle opened his eyes, lowering his hands.
There, not two feet from where Kalibar stood, was a translucent blue gravity shield forming a wide arc in front of them, like an umbrella tipped on its side. The Dire Lurker's deadly slime had collided with the shield, bouncing off harmlessly...and leaving everyone perfectly dry.
“Hold that shield!” Darius barked into Kalibar's ear. The Dire Lurker shifted its weight, lifting one massive leg off of a mushroom stalk and swinging it right at Kalibar!
“Kalibar!” Kyle cried.
But it was too late. The creature’s leg struck Kalibar's shield, its foot piercing right through. It headed straight for Kalibar, who of course had no idea what was happening.
No!
The foot slowed, then stopped – mere inches from Kalibar's face.
The shield flung the Dire Lurker's leg backward, sending it crashing into a giant mushroom stalk. The stalk shattered, the mushroom cap it supported falling to the ground and exploding into a cloud of orange spores twenty feet from where Kyle stood.
The Dire Lurker lurched to the side, catching itself with its other five legs. Quickly righting itself, it faced them once again, aiming its acid-spewing orifice at Kalibar. A great jet of fluid shot forth, once again hitting the shield, and splattering away ineffectively. Kalibar stood tall against the fierce beast, his jaw set firm. Even in his dusty clothes, with a red band around his eyes and a scruffy beard, the former Grand Weaver looked the part.
The Dire Lurker lowered its orifice then, aiming its deadly secretions onto the ground in front of Kalibar. Pools of the stuff welled up on the mossy ground, rising up to meet Kalibar's shield. The acid sprayed backward where it met the shield, but the rest flowed around the barrier, pooling in the small depression Kalibar was standing in front of. As the shield only covered their front, soon the acid was pouring in from the sides...right toward them.
Darius grabbed Kyle and Ariana, shoving them up the slight slope behind them. The liquid flowed into the depression in front of them, forming a veritable pond on the cavern floor. Darius and Kalibar were left standing on a narrow island of rock, surrounded on all sides by the Dire Lurker's slowly rising pool of acid.
“Kalibar!” Darius yelled, tapping the former Grand Weaver on the shoulder. Kalibar shook his head, clearly unable to hear what Darius was saying; he must have been deafened by the creature’s ear-gouging shrieks. Darius stepped back, pulling out tw
o small daggers from his red cloak, clutching one in each hand. He backed up to the far end of the narrow island, crouching low to the ground. “What are you...” Kyle began.
Darius lunged forward, sprinting across the narrow island, right at Kalibar. He leaped into the air, sailing over Kalibar's head...and right into Kalibar's shield. The shield flung him upward and forward, launching him over twenty feet in the air, even higher than the tallest mushroom cap. Kyle turned away, knowing full well the bodyguard would never survive a fall from that height.
He heard a loud thump, followed by an agonizing scream.
Kyle heard a gasp, then felt a hand on his shoulder.
“Kyle, look!” he heard Ariana cry.
He did so, his guts twisting into a knot as he peered through the thick orange cloud beyond Kalibar's shield. He scanned the cavern floor for a hint of golden armor, expecting to see Darius's corpse strewn across the rock. But the bodyguard was nowhere to be seen.
Then he heard a shriek from above, and followed the sound upward, seeing the Dire Lurker. It was thrashing its massive head from side-to-side, deadly acid flinging from its pale skin. Something was hanging from the beast's underbelly, barely visible through the mist of orange spores. No, not something...someone.
“Darius!” Kyle cried, his heart near to bursting with elation.
The bodyguard's legs were wrapped around the Lurker's underside, each dagger buried hilt-deep into the beast's pale flesh. Pulling one dagger free, Darius inched up the Lurker's belly, jamming the blade into the side of its throat. The creature screamed, its maw gaping wide. It thrashed again, but Darius hung on, using his daggers to climb up to right below the Lurker's gaping maw. Kyle watched in horror as streams of clear liquid dripped from its mouth, covering Darius's left shoulder in a shiny layer of acid goo. Darius’s red cloak blackened, smoke rising from a rapidly expanding hole in the fabric. Darius ignored the deadly stuff, sheathing his left dagger and reaching up with his left hand into the monster's mouth, grabbing onto a tooth. He hauled himself upward, jamming his remaining dagger into the creature's lower lip.
The Dire Lurker shrieked, forcing Kyle to cover his ears again. He watched as Darius hung from the creature's mouth for dear life, even as its massive head swung side-to-side. Despite his gauntlets being coated in slippery goo, Darius somehow maintained his grip, swinging a leg up and over into the gaping mouth.
Then the massive beast raised its head high into the air, slamming its jaws shut!
Darius jerked back, rolling out of the creature's mouth. The Lurker's razor-sharp teeth slammed together, and the bodyguard let go of just in time, free-falling toward the cavern floor far below.
Kyle heard Ariana scream, felt his heart leap into his throat.
Darius twisted in mid-air, unsheathing his left dagger and slamming it into the creature's underbelly, cutting a huge gash in the white, translucent skin. His descent slowed, then stopped, leaving him hanging from the Lurker's underside. The Lurker shrieked, thick yellow fluid gushing from the wound and splashing into the pool of acid before Kalibar. The bodyguard swung his legs upward, wrapping them around the creature's underside, then used his daggers to climb his way up to its mouth again. He sheathed one dagger, grabbing a tooth with his freed hand, then vaulted his legs up into the monster's massive maw. There he crouched, just beyond the rows of sharp teeth. He brought his right arm up to the sword in his scabbard...
...and then the giant mouth snapped shut.
Kyle and Ariana stood there, staring in disbelief as the creature's mouth closed on Darius. A loud, sickening crunch echoed off the cave walls.
“Darius!” Kyle screamed. “No!”
The Dire Lurker's eyeless head jerked in Kyle's direction, its pale body glistening in the pale glow of the moss-lined cavern.
Kyle's legs wobbled, then gave out. He fell onto his butt on the hard rock below, his eyes glued to the Lurker's horrid mouth. The creature’s head shifted, facing Kalibar.
“Kalibar!” Ariana cried, stepping forward, to the edge of the pool of acid.
The creature dropped a leg from its mushroom-top, swinging it at Kalibar. Its huge foot slammed into Kalibar's shield, clipping the former Grand Weaver on the shoulder before being flung backward. Kalibar cried out, spinning around and falling backward onto the narrow island of rock. His temple struck the ground with a terrible crack.
“Kalibar!” Kyle shouted.
Kalibar lay motionless on the rock, blood pooling around his head. His shield – the only thing protecting them from the Dire Lurker's deadly acid – vanished.
Ariana backpedaled, stopping twenty feet from the edge of the pool. Then she burst forward.
“Ariana!” Kyle cried. “What are you –”
She sprinted right to the edge of the pool, and jumped, sailing through the air over the lethal liquid...and barely cleared it, landing on the narrow island beyond. She skid to a stop before Kalibar, crouching down and rolling the man onto his back.
“Kalibar!” she yelled, shaking his shoulders. But he just laid there, utterly limp, blood oozing from his temple. She leaned in close, her lips next to his ear. “Kalibar!”
Kyle saw movement from above, and looked upward, spotting the Dire Lurker. The beast's rear swung downward, arcing below its wounded belly, that deadly orifice pointing right at Ariana and Kalibar.
“Ariana, watch out!” Kyle warned.
Ariana turned her head just as the Lurker's rear pulsed, shooting acid at her. The flesh-eating goo struck Ariana and Kalibar, knocking Ariana backward. Smoke began to rise from the front of her uniform.
No!
He weaved magic in his mind’s eye, and suddenly a cold gust of wind whipped around Kyle, shoving him from behind. He braced himself, a veritable waterfall appearing out of thin air above Ariana and Kalibar, drenching them both.
The Lurker's acid spray stopped, fluid dripping from its orifice.
Ariana rose to her feet, water coursing down her head and body. Kyle maintained his magic stream to the waterfall for a moment longer, then stopped it. She stood there, shivering violently, her uniform riddled with tiny holes…but her flesh was intact. She nodded at Kyle.
A shrill scream echoed through the cavern, and Kyle flinched, crouching low and bringing his hands to his ears. He glanced up, seeing the Dire Lurker above them still. Its horrible mouth opened, then shut, its jaws quivering. Then its whole body went rigid. Kyle backpedaled slowly, his eyes locked on the monstrous beast.
What the...
Then the Lurker's legs buckled, its spiky feet slipping off of the mushroom caps. Its huge body fell through the air, landing in the pool below. Acid sprayed outward from the incredible impact, showering Ariana and Kalibar. Kyle felt a few drops pelt his shirt, and seconds later smelled smoke. He wove the water pattern frantically, sending it up above his head. Ice-cold water gushed onto him, soaking through his clothes and chilling him to the bone. He gasped, his throat locking up, his whole body going rigid. He turned to Ariana and Kalibar, weaving a second water pattern above them, attaching a magic stream while maintaining his stream to the waterfall above himself. It took everything he had to maintain his concentration, streaming magic to more than one pattern at a time. But he managed to do just that, another waterfall appearing above Ariana and Kalibar, drenching them instantly. He held the streams for a while, until all of the acid had been washed away. Then he dropped them both.
“Kyle,” Ariana yelled, pointed at the Lurker. “Look!”
The Dire Lurker lay utterly still in the pool of its own acid, its mouth partly open, thick yellow fluid seeping between its teeth. A muffled crunching sound came somewhere inside the beast, then another. A strange pulsing mass rose from the top of the creature's head, tenting upward to form a sharp peak. Then the Lurker's pale skin ruptured, pus-like yellow fluid streaming down its head. A long, razor-thin spike thrust upward out of the wound. The spike twisted ninety degrees, and it was then that Kyle realized it wasn't a spike at all. It was a long blade.
As Kyle watched, the blade sawed up and down, slicing down the creature's skull. Then a slick, golden-armored arm shot out of the wound.
“Darius?” Kyle cried, unable to believe his eyes. “Darius!”
Another arm shot out of the creature's head, and then a brown-haired head appeared. It was Darius! The warrior pulled himself up out of the creature's skull, then jumped down from the thing, landing feet-first into the wide pool of acid below.
“Darius!” Kyle cried in horror.
The gilded warrior waded slowly toward Ariana and Kalibar, the deadly acid lapping at his upper thighs, the golden metal hissing and bubbling. His red cloak blackened where it touched the pool, dissolving before Kyle's eyes. Darius reached the small island of rock, stepping up onto it and looking down at Ariana and Kalibar. Ariana stared wide-eyed at the man, her jaw slack. Darius sheathed his sword.
“Anyone want to help me here?” the bodyguard asked, gesturing at the acid still eating away at his armor.
Ariana snapped out of her trance, and within moments a stream of water appeared above the bodyguard, splashing over his armored body, flowing down his legs and back into the acid pool behind him. The grim warrior didn't even flinch as the ice-cold water coursed over him, rinsing the deadly acid from his now-pitted armor. After a full minute, Darius raised one hand, and the stream stopped. He dropped to one knee at Kalibar's side, shaking the unconscious man's shoulder.
Kalibar groaned, putting a hand up to his bleeding temple.
“Kalibar,” Darius prompted.
“Who is it?” Kalibar asked. “Who said that?”
“Darius,” the warrior answered.
“What happened?” Kalibar pressed, pushing himself off of the ground and sitting up. He began to gag, and Darius quickly lowered the former Grand Weaver to the ground again.
“The Lurker is dead,” Darius replied.
“Who said that?” Kalibar asked, his eyebrows knitting together. Darius sighed, standing up and facing Kyle and Ariana.