Rogan's Monsters 2: Below, page 9
Edda, usually the soul of cowardice when it came to any sort of conflict, had hurled her monkey-like self into the thick of it. Somehow, she must have gained access to Lady Gamma’s magic. The little monkey was exhaling streams of fire at the monster’s underbelly in the same way that Gamma was doing, if on a much smaller scale.
The worm was huge. It almost filled the whole cavern, its red, angry flesh seeming to bulge and twist as the limits of the caves demanded. I thought that it could probably squish itself through spaces too small for me to fit, just as easily as it could make its way through wider, more friendly tunnels. I thought that if I drove a stake into its tail to hold it in place, it could probably follow me for more than a mile before it ran out of stretch.
But none of that mattered. As Ecco had said, the women I was meant to protect were in danger. The monster was no more than twenty paces from the wagon, and I was determined it would get no closer.
I hurled myself into the attack, carving great, gaping wounds in its flesh with my blades, attacking for all I was worth.
With this monster, there was no need for finesse. This time, I used the Divine Steps to skirt around its edges, bringing close enough to gouge out parts of its flesh that I thought might be crucial, and to move me out of its range should it turn its attention my way. And I used the Way of the Blade in the most brutal, direct way I could.
For this, the twin swords were the exactly the right choice, and I buried them in the monster’s flesh again and again, taking care to stay out of Gamma’s range–and that of Edda—and skirting around Ash as well.
The tall woman hammered away with her club, obviously aware that without eyes or other such targets to aim for, she was limited to pounding away at its flesh. Yet she managed a laconic greeting.
“Good to see you, Rogan. Perhaps try carving bits of it off,” she said.
It was good advice. The wounds I was opening seemed to heal almost as quickly as I made them, and all my efforts seemed to result in nothing but making the monster angrier. It thrashed around dangerously, and I had to move quickly to avoid being crushed.
I followed the suggestion and carved out great goblets of flash and heaved them onto the ground, where they quivered like jelly.
It seemed to work. While the beast healed almost at once, I figured if I could simply carve off enough bits, sooner or later victory would be mine. Except that the monster didn’t take kindly to my efforts. It extended a pseudopod of rubbery flesh out to the piece I had carved, and as soon as they touched, they merged into one.
I cursed and attacked the rubbery pseudopod with all that I had, separating more and more bits from the rest. I turned toward Gamma and shouted to her.
“Can you burn it?”
The painted princess turned her fiery breath to the task, charring burnt meat so that my mouth started to salivate.
I carved off two, three more rubbery pseudopods that were all meant bring the burnt piece back into the fold, and then the monster uttered a holler of rage that threatened to bring down the cave system. Instead of extending another bit of its flesh, it reared up like a walrus and heaved its whole weight towards me.
I had no choice but to give ground, delivering it a pair of nasty wounds as I did. But it had achieved its purpose. It had reached the charred bits of itself that Gamma was cooking.
The worm monster didn’t seem to care that part of it was already medium rare. It simply absorbed that flesh into itself once again and continued to attack.
Between the three of us, Ash, Gamma, and myself, we were giving ground with every minute that passed. Not even Edda’s efforts, as they were, could halt the monster’s progress. Already, the monster was within a pace or two of Gamma’s wagon, and I knew that was its target. Just as I knew that the wagon was precious and had to be protected at all cost.
“See to your wagon!” I yelled at Gamma.
She looked frightened. But she nodded, exhaled once again, and aimed her burst of fire down the monster’s wide-open maw. Then she was gone, leaving the monster to me and Ash.
Her stream of fire hadn’t done anything much. I knew that I could hack at it with my blades for ten thousand years and still get nowhere. And that left me with just one option. One more thing to try. I just hoped I had enough chi reserves to do the job.
Anyway, it was too late to worry about my chi. It was my job to protect Gamma and the rest, and even if I didn’t like the compulsion I was under, even if I didn’t like Gamma very much herself, it was a job I took very seriously.
“Come on then, you oversized slug!” I yelled, looking about. “Let’s end this!”
22
Once more, I tapped into my chi and launched myself at the monster, burying both blades into its flesh as deep as I could. Using the weapons as a conduit, I gave it almost everything that I had. I couldn’t help but think I was to this creature a human Taser, emptying my charge into its flesh, and hopefully screwing with its systems enough that it would do some damage, if not kill the creature.
For just a moment, I thought it had worked. The monster froze in place as if it had caught sight of Medusa herself. I offered a grin that nobody could see, and pumped even more chi into my blades, bringing my reserves down to a dangerous level.
I thought that if I could kill it, I would have all the time I needed to recharge, and maybe we could have barbecued worm creature for lunch. For dinner as well.
Then the monster shuddered and raised his voice to the roof again.
I knew then that I had just stunned it, and not for very long.
It drew its heaving mass up as tall as it could, filling the cavern all the way to the ceiling.
I knew it was about to pound me into a puddle of strawberry jam, so I did the only thing that I could.
I withdrew my swords and leaped away, feeling drained and comparatively weak, and just managed to get out of the way when several tons of rubbery flesh crashed into the ground.
I was done. Defeated.
Once more, the fleshy monster drew itself up, and I knew that this would be it. I had reached the wagons already, and had no more tricks up my sleeve with which to delay it. My blades were insufficient for this monster, as was my chi.
The only other option was to escape.
With the last of my strength, I turned to find Gamma, who was rummaging around in her robes. “We have to go!” I said. “Why are the wagons still here?”
Lady Gamma, having seemed so heroic only a few minutes earlier, now seemed more than distraught. She wasn’t rummaging about within her robes anymore. Instead, she was peering at the ground.
“I’ve dropped it!” she said, and in those three little words, I knew that we had lost our greatest resources.
Ash realized it, too, and was already moving to her mistress.
“We have to go,” she shouted, and took the painted woman by the elbow.
I cast one more look at the towering monster, figuring we had only seconds. “Run,” I said. I used the steps designed for speed, caught Lady Gamma’s other elbow, and between the two of us Ash and I forced her away.
The worm monster uttered another of its terrifying roars, and smashed down once again.
We all heard it. The splintering of wood, the screaming of one of the cow beasts. But none of us turned around.
In moments, we had reached Camille and Zera, and I could tell by the lizard woman’s blanched expression that there wasn’t much point in going back to see if anything of value remained.
But we were still not out of danger. We were still sharing the cavern with the monster, and I had no clue what it wanted.
Likely, it was looking for a snack in the form of Ash, Gamma, Camille, Zera, and me, and perhaps even Edda.
That wouldn’t have been so bad. As tempted as I was to throw the abusive pet at the worm, I continued to pull Gamma toward an exit.
Ecco was still standing next to the hole from which I had emerged. Belatedly, I realized it hadn’t been there when Gamma had ordered the scout. If it had been, perhaps I would have at least ducked my head into it before heading off on my way.
But, in a series of caverns that seemed to have its own agenda, how it happened seemed to be less urgent than simple survival.
“This way,” Ecco said, and nobody thought to argue. Camille and Zera were first, and then Ash, who had Lady Gamma behind her. I brought up the rear, with Edda skittering past me at my feet.
23
Once we were all through into the smaller cave, Ecco did… something… and the opening was suddenly no longer there. I wasn’t sure what she did, but my intuition told me it had something to do with chi, that she had used it in some unusual way to seal the cavern.
It was something to think about later. For now, all that mattered was that we were isolated from the worm monster above.
We could still hear it, though. Even through the rock, its scream was clear, and the whole place seemed to shake as the monster pounded its weight against the rock.
Still, even though it was comparatively dark, I could sense the relief from the rest of the girls.
Once more, I channeled my chi into my AC lens, turned on the night vision, and everything came back into view.
Gamma looked overtly distraught, and Edda didn’t seem to be helping. Camille and Zera held their hands out in front of them, their eyes wide as they struggled to see. Ash seemed more at ease than the rest, but even she held onto a boulder for support.
Only Ecco looked completely calm, and she was first to speak.
“Come,” she said. “It is safe up ahead, and there is light there.”
This time, no one was in any mood to argue. Ecco had just saved everyone’s lives, and we all knew it. Even my efforts to carve the worm monster into pieces had been largely ineffectual. If Ecco hadn’t provided an escape route, I wasn’t sure what might have happened.
But we still had a problem.
“I can’t see,” said Gamma. Even though her voice sounded surprisingly calm, I could see her face, and calm wasn’t a word I would have used to describe her. Traumatized, perhaps. Horrified. Afraid for her very life. But not calm.
“I can see,” I said. “Do you have your glowing stone?”
The painted princess shook her head. “Its light has faded. I think… Maybe I still have the potions that give rise to its glow. I don’t think they were in the wagon.” At this, her voice broke, and I could see she was reliving that particular horror. But she recovered quickly. “I can’t see well enough to check.”
“I can see,” I said. “I can lead you, with Ecco showing the way.”
As the worm monster continued to rail and bash away in the cavern above, the girls felt their way toward one another and took hands, with Gamma and Zera in the middle and Ash and Camille on the ends. Almost at random, I took Camille’s hand, guiding them verbally as Ecco led the way.
“There is a jagged rock to your right. Go carefully,” I said. “It gets narrower here, but opens up in a few paces.” “Ash, you’re going to have to duck for this bit.” “There is a step down here. And then we will be turning to the left.”
Yet again, Ecco was true to her word, and within a surprisingly short time, we found ourselves in a decent-sized chamber with enough of the bioluminescent plants that everyone could see once again.
We were far enough away from the worm monster to feel safe again, and while the small chamber wasn’t as large or as comfortable as the cavern we had so recently left, it was comfortable enough. There was even a trickle of water running down one side of it.
It seemed that the girls were ready to breathe a sigh of relief, and I couldn’t blame them.
With no spoken intention to do it, they let go of one another and found a comfortable spot to rest.
All except Gamma. She had been doing her best to hold it together, but the loss of the wagons was a disaster she wasn’t built to take.
It was as if she had been bottling up her grief ever since we left the monster behind, and now that we had paused, it all came bubbling out.
The painted princess’ face crumpled, and she covered it with her hands. Then she collapsed to the floor and sobbed.
Despite the fact that Gamma was, in my view, the author of her own misery–and of large parts of my own as well–Camille, Zera, and even Ash all gathered around to comfort the woman. But I stood my ground with Ecco, at least in part to keep watch for any unwanted surprises, but mostly out of resentment.
It wasn’t as if I hadn’t dealt with women like her in the past. Overly entitled, Gamma felt that the world revolved around her, and that the needs and wants of others were secondary–if she even acknowledged they existed at all.
Ordinarily, I could have ignored it and focused on the positive aspects of her character. But right at that moment, I couldn’t think of many. Not because I blamed her for the loss of the wagon and the supplies. Not because she had chosen not to listen to Ecco.
But because I was still constrained, still bound to do her bidding, regardless of what she ordered me to do.
Perhaps, if she hadn’t sent me away, I could have held the worm monster off while she packed the wagons back away in the flask. And perhaps I couldn’t have. But I didn’t know because I hadn’t been given that option.
In my mind, Gamma’s desire to punish me, to send me away, had lessened my effectiveness. Her decision had been disastrous.
We had survived the consequences only because of Ecco.
I couldn’t help but wonder what might happen the next time the painted princess gave me an order that ran contradictory to our best interests.
And I couldn’t help but sneer a little as Lady Gamma wailed to herself on the ground. She had spent so long bottling everything up behind a seal of entitlement that now it was all coming out in a flood. It didn’t seem to matter to her that Zera, Camille, and Ash were all there, all trying to soothe her. Gamma had launched into a pity party of dramatic proportions.
And she hadn’t limited herself to wordless wailing. Every now and again, when she could draw a proper breath, she put her emotions into words.
“It’s all my fault!” she said.
I largely had to agree.
“You were right,” she sobbed, latching onto Camille. “I don’t know where we are going. I didn’t know the cave system was so extensive. I thought we would be out of it in just a few hours.”
Camille responded to this by returning the painted woman’s embrace and offering what comfort she could. “It’s okay,” she said. “We will find a way through.”
“But without my potions, my supplies, I don’t know how we can,” Gamma said, a little quieter, and then she gave a little hiccup.
Camille’s expression changed to one of anxiety, and she didn’t contradict our spoiled leader. But Zera still looked optimistic, and Ash looked unconcerned.
“We’ll find a way,” the lizard woman finally said, as if she was trying to convince herself. “We’ll find a way.”
It took a long time for Lady Gamma and her pet monkey to calm themselves down. I had to admit that as much as this woman was a pain in my ass, I still pitied her. And I came to another realization. Sure, she was imperious and bossy, and I found a lot of what she did irritating, but her motivations were largely pure.
She had taken it upon herself to lead this quest to the temple, and that took courage.
While Gamma was still sobbing and hiccupping, Ecco had stood back, watching the interactions between the princess and the others with curiosity, as if she’d never seen the like of it before.
“I cannot do anything about your wagons,” she said after a few more moments. “What’s done is done, and cannot be undone by any means I know. But the caverns will provide all that you need to survive. Of this I am certain. And I can guide you past the worst dangers, if you but follow my lead.”
Surprisingly, Gamma looked up at Ecco with hope, her tears having carved clear trails through the makeup on her face.
“You can show us the way out?” she asked.
“It is not so simple as that,” Ecco responded.
Camille frowned. “Can you not make it that simple? Why not? Do these caverns not have an exit? If they do, take us that way. How is that not simple?”
Ecco turned her focus toward the lizard woman, and I was suddenly struck by the similarity between the two. Being more soft-spoken and seemingly slower to anger, Ecco was the diametric opposite of Camille, who was quick with her knives and tongue. Yet they were of a similar height, equivalent beauty, and both appeared to be human hybrids of one kind or another. They both even had tails.
Although Ecco’s was furry, and Camille’s was covered in scales.
“Have you noticed that the caverns are inconsistent?” Ecco asked Camille. “That it is possible to walk in one direction, but if you were to turn back, you can find your way blocked?”
It was the confusing reality of the caves. We hadn’t truly discussed it, not out loud anyway, but all of us had seen the caves change at least twice.
“And the way the caves feel,” Ecco continued. “You can sense it, can’t you?”
Ash and Zera nodded, and Gamma looked away as if she was ashamed to have ignored this subject before.
Camille answered. “They feel… malicious. Like there is something inside them that means to harm us.”
I nodded. I had noticed the same thing but had kept it to myself.
“And the attacks,” Ecco continued. “The monsters you have faced within these walls. What do you think of those?”
“They feel directed, almost,” I said. “Perhaps not the bats. Perhaps those were just chance. But the spider creatures… The giant worm thing–it is like they were there for a reason.”
The words sort of bubbled out of me before I could even decide if I believed what I was saying. But at the same time, I knew that I spoke the truth.
Ecco nodded. “It is my sister’s doing. She has far greater control of the caves than I do. She knows you are here, although her senses are imprecise. The monsters you have fought are her tools.”
