Protector

by Sam Ryder

  Jesus. This poor woman had been so mistreated that all she wanted was a little honesty. Well, I could give her that. But I also had questions for her. “Belle, coming out here with me was brave. But why did you do it? You would’ve been safer back at camp.”

  She squinted as the sun glinted off the ground and reflected onto her face. Her freckles glittered. “Y’all have been doin’ ever’thin’ for me. Protectin’ me. Savin’ my life when I tried to end it. Bein’ nice to me. I’m tired of relyin’ on others for ever’thin’, you know? I just want to stand on mah own two feet.”

  I guess I could understand that. I just hoped it was the true answer. Time for some more truth. “So you didn’t come out here to be with me?”

  That earned me a half smile. “For bein’ such a gentleman you’re awfully high on your own horse, ain’t ya?”

  It was my turn to blush. “I just thought…”

  “Ya thought I was pining after you like a lovestruck teeny-bopper.”

  “That’s one way of putting it…”

  “I’m fine.” I liked the way she said that word. Faaahn.

  “I’m glad.” Now that we’d gotten all the touchy feely stuff out of the way, we had maybe two hours until nightfall. “You feel like running?”

  She nodded. “I won the state championship in the 1,500 in high school.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Hell no,” she said, flashing another smile. “I hate running.”

  “Perfect. Me too. Let’s hate running together.”

  With that, we veered right, toward the cover of the forest.

  TEN

  CREEPY CRAWLIES

  The forest seemed to close its wooden arms around us as we entered at a jog, our breaths fast but steady. The two-hour run would’ve killed me back on Earth, and I suspected Belle too, but with our new bodies we handled it. Not to say I wasn’t exhausted.

  Not a moment too soon, either. The Black was almost upon us, the shadows seeming to rain down like a meteor strike.

  “Sam,” Belle said, using my first name for the first time. I could hear the fear in her voice.

  “We need to climb,” I said, remembering how Vrill and I had survived the Black high in the boughs of one of the thick trees.

  “Now that I can do.”

  “Let’s get a little further in. The plains are dangerous.”

  We felt our way through the forest while there was still the smallest amount of light, just enough gray to see plants and trees before we ran smack into them. When I could sense the Black was less than a few minutes away, I stopped us. “This one,” I said, tapping the trunk of a nice thick tree that I was certain would rise high above the forest floor.

  The tree didn’t have any low-hanging branches, but it did have several knotholes and bark so rough our bare feet could get a decent grip. Belle hadn’t been joking when she said she could climb. Her long arms and legs allowed her to reach the best hand- and footholds, and she quickly reached the first of the thick, high branches. I looked up and watched as she swung her very fine behind onto the branch and looked down. “Admirin’ the view?” she said.

  “Maybe,” I said, trying to keep things light. Although I was glad she was able to maintain the banter, I could hear the quiver of fear in her voice. “Go higher so I can keep admiring.”

  She did, and rather than watching her toned body climb, I focused on my own climb. Though I also had length on my side, the bulk of my body made climbing far more difficult. Still, I eventually managed to drag my heavy ass up to where she sat waiting, nestled in a well-covered spot where three branches had grown together to create a natural seat.

  “This work?” Belle said.

  “Perfect.” I looked for where I might be able to squeeze in, and she shifted enough to make room. “Thanks.”

  Even though she was narrow, I was not, and our hips were smashed together with our backs against the tree’s trunk. All around us, smaller branches forked off the main ones, bursting with leaves. Above us were more leaves, an entire canopy separating us from the darkness. The leaves began to disappear second by second, until I couldn’t see them at all. I waved a hand in front of my face just to be sure. Yup. Nothing.

  The Black had arrived.

  Here we go, I thought.

  “Will we be safe up here?” Belle whispered.

  “The Black is never safe,” I said, remembering how Vrill and I were chased from a cave by gargats and then forced to separate. It resulted in my first kill. If I hadn’t killed the winged gargoyle, I wouldn’t have been sitting in a tree at that moment.

  Belle went quiet after that. “Try to get some sleep,” I said. “I’ll wake you if necessary.”

  Her hand found mine and squeezed. It felt good—the human contact. The Black was all about fear and violence. Holding hands felt like a way of fighting the mental aspect of the unnatural night. Soon Belle’s breathing slowed and her head lolled onto my shoulder.

  Good, I thought. Let her sleep through the whole thing. The Black used to be about an hour by Earth’s reckoning, but ever since the Morgoss used dark magic to extend it, night now lasted almost two full hours.

  I felt tired too, but there was no way I was going to sleep, not when something might tear out my throat while I slumbered. If we survived the next two hours, I could catch some Zs first thing in the morning before we continued our journey.

  I jolted slightly when my ears caught a noise. A shuffling through the undergrowth, similar to the sound of a scavenger busying itself in a forest. On Earth, a sound like this one would conjure images of squirrels or chipmunks. Or perhaps a bird, hopping from leaf to leaf, pecking at the ground in search of worms.

  But here, in the Black, my mind cycled through memories of the various monsters I knew of, all of which I’d fought at one time or another. The only problem: none of them were particularly quiet. I wondered if Belle’s suggestion that we might face slithers was about to come true. The long, thick snakes were the only monsters I could think of that might rustle through the forest. Still, I didn’t hear the telltale hissing that usually came with the anaconda-like snakes.

  What then?

  Logically, I knew there must be other monsters on this planet. We occupied a tiny part of it, and I knew little to nothing about the rest. Hell, I’d only just learned about the Syrene, deadly creatures that didn’t obey the will of the Morgoss. Who knew how many other types of monsters there were? It was possible even the Three weren’t aware of all of them.

  Which meant whatever was making the noise below the tree was probably something I’d never seen or even heard of. Damn. I wished Vrill were here. This forest was one of her favorite spots to ride out the Black. She’d probably know exactly what was creeping around down there and how to handle it.

  That’s when I realized the sound had stopped. I leaned forward, craning my ear to listen for something, anything to indicate where the creature was.

  There’s nothing more frightening than being hunted in absolute darkness.

  I had the urge to light one of our demontorches so I could see whether something was creeping up on us. But, of course, that would be foolish. More than likely, the creature had just moved away from earshot. More than likely, nothing was even aware of us up in this tree. Lighting a torch would be like sending up a signal flare that said, “Hey! We’re here! Come eat us!” The visual equivalent of ringing the dinner bell.

  Right?

  I felt the brush of something spiky on my leg and jerked like the doctor had tapped my knee with one of those little reflex hammers. Something stabbed into my skin and I immediately felt the burn, like fire being injected into my veins. I was about to cry out, to warn Belle, but my tongue didn’t seem to work right, my lips refusing to open. My entire body went numb, slackening like a string dropped from one end.

  I couldn’t move, couldn’t scream. I couldn’t do anything but stare straight ahead into darkness, unable to even blink. And I knew something was scurrying across my skin, even if I couldn’t fee
l it. I wished whatever poison I’d been injected with would knock me out, so I didn’t have to be awake for whatever was about to come. Most likely, being eaten alive.

  Belle must’ve awoken when my body reacted to the touch of the hairy creature. Because I heard a sharp breath and an inaudible word. Which meant at least my ears were working. I heard the sound of her blade being drawn and then a feminine grunt as she used it. I pictured her stabbing blindly, as likely to impale me as whatever venomous foe we faced.

  If she accidentally stabbed me, I was pretty sure my numb body wouldn’t even feel it, leaving me to bleed out while I was slumped helplessly.

  She didn’t hit me, however, because I heard a freaky high-pitched screech and then the sound of something heavy thumping off a branch somewhere below us. There was a bare moment of complete silence, and then the louder sound of the creature crashing into the undergrowth.

  Holy shit. Belle had killed the monster.

  “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god,” Belle said rapidly. “Sam. Sam, are you okay?”

  I could imagine her touching me, squeezing my hand, feeling for my pulse maybe. I wanted to answer her, to tell her I was alive but incapacitated, but nothing worked except my ears. Was my heart even beating? Was I breathing? I couldn’t tell.

  “Unconscious,” she breathed. Though she spoke in a frightened whisper, I could hear her clearly, which meant her face was close to my ear. Her verdict meant I must be breathing or my heart beating, something that told her I was still alive. That was good, at least. I wondered how long the venom would last.

  Forever, my annoyingly pessimistic mind informed me. Which, on this planet, might be correct, but I was still hoping the effects would be temporary.

  “Okay,” Belle said. “We’re okay.” I could tell she was trying to calm herself down.

  This should be a time for celebration—she’d killed her first monster! If not, I’d probably be half-eaten by now. Instead, we were stuck in a tree hoping the rest of the Black would pass without event.

  Instead, the harsh silence was filled with shrieks.

  ~~~

  Belle had learned a few tricks while the rest of the Warriors had been off fighting in the Black. The first thing I heard her do was rummage through the pack, which she must’ve pulled off my numb shoulder.

  A few moments later I simultaneously heard the telltale sound of steel striking flint and saw a spark of light in the darkness. Which meant my eyes still worked. Presumably, she was trying to light one of our demontorches. Yes, the light would give away our position, but so would the dead monster at the base of the tree. At this point, a little light would only help.

  Or so I hoped.

  More steel striking flint, more sparks, and then—

  Whoosh!

  The torch caught with a blaze of flames that would’ve singed Belle’s long red hair if she didn’t instinctively snap her head back. Gods bless her, the first thing she did was shine the light in my direction to check on me. “Sam?” she said. I wanted to answer her, to give her some sign that I was okay and watching her, but I couldn’t even manage a single blink. How long could one go without blinking before their eyes dried out, shriveled up, and popped from their skull?

  To her credit, she didn’t tear up or grab me and shake me. She shifted the torch’s position, aiming it outward and slightly down.

  I focused on my eyes, willing them to follow the reach of the light, but they refused to budge, content to stare straight ahead, where all I could see were branches and the attached foliage.

  And then eyes.

  They weren’t the six red eyes of the Morgoss gleaming in the Black. No, that might’ve been a welcome sight compared to what we saw. This was worse. Much worse. Hundreds of eyes shined back at me, pale and unblinking.

  Belle must’ve noticed them at the same time, or else saw even more eyes down on the ground below, because she gasped and tried to scrabble back, almost shoving the torch right in my eye.

  I couldn’t blame her, I might’ve done the same if I wasn’t paralyzed.

  “Dammit all to hell and back ag’in,” she said, her accent strangely pleasing even as she released her fear-induced curse.

  However, once again, she surprised me. The woman who’d tried to throw herself from a cliff to her death was long gone. Because she raised her sword in one hand and the torch in the other and said, “Come and fuckin’ git it.” Even still, her words quivered slightly. I could see her chest heaving beneath the leather bikini and I feared she might hyperventilate or have a heart attack.

  More shrieks in the dark, as the monsters seemed to be communicating. I tried to make out what they were around Belle’s body, which was now partially obscuring my vision.

  Then one stepped into the light and Belle screamed.

  It shrieked in response, the spidery creature opening its mouth to reveal twin fangs on either side of a dozen other sharp teeth. Its legs were covered in black, bristly fur and I didn’t need to count them to know there were eight of them, no different than Earth spiders. That was, however, where the similarities ended.

  For one, its size was way bigger than anything we had on earth. This particular spider was the size of Belle’s head, which wouldn’t be too bad all things considered, except for the fact that I could tell from the size of its dozen pale eyes compared to the hundreds of other eyes shining in the Black that it was one of the smaller ones.

  Some of the other eyes were as big as dinner plates, implying the spiders were larger than we were.

  Even worse, its hairy legs ended in spikes, the edges as sharp as swords.

  Dammit all to hell and back again, I thought, echoing Belle’s curse in my mind.

  The spider stopped shrieking and ducked its head to reveal an even worse surprise. Over its head rose a long, curving tail sheathed in shining black armor-like plates. The tail ended in a wicked looking barb. The whole set up reminded me distinctly of a scorpion that had been eating its Wheaties.

  Great. A super-sized spider-scorpion. A real two-for-one special.

  The barbed tail began to quiver from side to side, making a weird buzzing sound. Like a rattlesnake’s warning rattle mixed with a hive of angry bees. It was about to strike. I wanted to shout a warning, but, of course, could not.

  Plus, I didn’t need to. Belle got the gist of what was happening and ducked just as the spider struck, its tail snapping forward like a thrust spear. It passed over her head, right where her chest and the beating heart beneath had been a moment earlier. Adrenaline must’ve kicked in, because Belle slashed upward with a roar, her blade slicing across the plated tail.

  The creature withdrew, shrieking at her. I could tell its tail was fully intact, the plates remarkably strong if they could withstand sharpened steel.

  And now the creature was wary, retreating back a few steps along the thick branch, regrouping and planning its next attack.

  There were so many eyes behind it, but none of the others had revealed themselves. I wondered why not. A guess sprang to mind. A test. Even animals—and maybe monsters—had their own rituals and traditions. Was this a rite of passage for a young spider-scorpion? I didn’t know whether these creatures had a name, but the hyphenated one I’d come up with was clunky. I needed something better. Creepy-crawlies. Yeah, perfect.

  Aaaand, I’m an idiot. Thinking up nicknames for the creatures about to eat me and my friend. Still, it helped clear my mind, considering the rest of me was so helpless.

  From behind, I could see Belle’s chest heaving, could hear her sharp exhalations. She held the torch out while gripping the sword in the ready position. Waiting.

  The creepy-crawly changed tactic, scurrying beneath the branch and using its climbing ability to its advantage. I’m not certain if Belle acted on instinct, fear or sheer dumb luck, but she stepped forward quickly along the branch.

  Not a moment too soon, either. The strike came from the side as the creature skittered beneath the branch’s edge, its tail snapping around like a propelle
r blade.

  It caught only the air that Belle had just vacated.

  She was already whirling around, slashing the katana across the creepy-crawly’s bulbous head, popping half-a-dozen eyeballs in its wake.

  This time the monster’s shriek had a different timbre—agony.

  Stab it! I screamed in my head. Slashing at it would do some damage and piss it off, but the only way to kill it quickly would be to shove the blade deep into its brain, which was apparently what Belle had done to the first one, whether on purpose or by accident.

  She wasn’t thinking clearly, however, merely trying to survive. I couldn’t blame her, especially considering this was her first taste of true battle. She hadn’t wet herself, which was better than I would’ve done.

  The eight-legged creature recovered, its shattered eyes oozing black pus. It tried to back up to regroup again, but ran right into the tree trunk, disoriented by the pain it must’ve been feeling. This time, Belle made no mistake.

  With a roar, she launched herself forward, stabbing at the same time as the barbed tail whipped down at her. She dove at the last second, the tail piercing the tree branch while she stabbed the spider through one of its few remaining eyes.

  It didn’t shriek this time—it screamed. Determination hardening her jaw, Belle shoved the blade in deeper. And then twisted.

  The creepy-crawly’s legs went slack and its tail went as limp as lifeless rubber. Belle drew the sword back sharply and shoved the torch against the monster’s face for good measure, charring its flesh and pushing it backwards off the branch.

  I saw the creature catch fire just before it disappeared from view.

  Round two goes to the Southern Belle, I thought.

  There was a light in her eyes I’d never seen. The thrill of inflicting violence on one who would’ve inflicted violence on her. This was a moment she’d dreamed about, fantasized over. Punching, kicking, maybe even shooting, all those deadbeat guys who had abused her, treated her badly, most of them drunks or simply dudes with anger management issues. She’d taken all that history, all those desires and her pent-up rage, and used it to kill the creepy-crawly.