Page 71 of Vasmora

Panic rippled down my spine, and I turned toward the pile of eggs beside me. Lifting one of the pale green, gelatinous orbs, revealed a small worm-like creature thrashing inside of it, and grimacing, I chucked it into the pool. The splash seemed to catch the serpent’s attention, and she swung around, Melantha dangling from her maw, eyes focused on the water.

I grabbed another and flung it into the pool.

Then another.

Melantha slipped from the beast’s tongue, as it released her and spun around. A roar bounced off the cave walls, and it charged around the pool toward me.

I quickly chucked another.

And another.

“You wretched beast! I’ll destroy all your spawn!” Icy spikes of adrenaline tore through my muscles, as I filled my arms with sticky, wet eggs, as many as I could hold, and darted in the other direction. “Melantha! Head for the tunnel!” I cried out, making my way around the pool, toward the three caves.

A quick glance over my shoulder showed the redhead dragging herself toward the tunnel, her legs apparently not quite back to normal.

An unyielding force slammed into the side of my face, the impact knocking me backward. The ground rose up to meet my spine, the eggs spilling out of my arms. I shook my head of the disorienting blur sticking to my brain and stared up at a soldier, clad in armor, whose arm had been violently torn from its socket, the threads of meat dripping blood onto my outstretched leg. His eye looked to have been gouged out, and he swayed on his feet. Must’ve been delirium keeping him upright.

“Rotting cunt.” He raised his hand for a glyph that flared across his palm then quickly faded when his gaze lifted from mine. Eyes wide to an unblinking stare, he visibly trembled, backing away.

The female behind me, no doubt. Confirmed when my spine suddenly tingled and her shadow moved across the floor. The soldier’s armor clanked as he trembled, and he directed his palm toward her.

Not sparing either of them another second, I pushed to my feet, darting toward Melantha with the soldier’s screams at my back. When I did chance a peek, I saw him dangling by his neck.

Snapped from his torso.

Another soldier stumbled into the lair, while I hurried toward where Melantha had reached the mouth of the tunnel. Both serpents trailed after him, one of them wounded, the way it twitched when it glided.

“Is there a way out?” she rasped, clearly out of breath.

“There’s a door. At the very least, the adult serpents can’t fit.”

“I think I can walk with a bit of help.”

Wrapping her arm around my neck, I steadied her as she clambered to her feet.

The healthier serpent let out a roar and slithered its way around the pool.

“C’mon!” I helped her close the distance to the tunnel, and once inside, the charnelyth slammed into the mouth of it. Dust rained from above, sprinkling across my face. It lashed its tongue, which struck the ground beside my foot. “Keep going!” I urged, and we hobbled together, deeper into the tunnel, outside of the serpent’s reach.

The screams of the other soldier ended abruptly.

“What a waste,” Melantha muttered, stumbling alongside me, and a strained sound grunted from her throat.

A breathless cold consumed me, and just as before, the back of my neck tingled the deeper we ventured, our pace slower than when I was alone.

Melantha’s footing slipped, and she reached out for the wall to catch herself. “Oh gods,” she said drawing her hand back.

“What is it?”

“Something … wet. Slimy.”

“Condensation, maybe.”

She sniffed her hand and shook her head. “No. It smells like rot. Death.”

“Let’s get to the door.”

We stumbled on together in complete darkness, until a faint ticking sound overhead brought us to another stop.