FrivYeti/CalinPg10
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The Fair Folk noblewoman stepped to one side as the serpent reared up, watching Bryce speculatively. He looked around him, gauging distances to trees and rocks that might help even the odds, as he watched the massive creature in front of him. The serpent flicked its tongue, watching Bryce, and then opened its mouth.
Black fire belched outwards from the serpent's mouth, and for a fraction of a second Bryce froze in shock. Then he leapt into motion, leaping up above the flame and grabbing a tree branch. As he flipped himself onto the branch, the beast's head turned upwards, arcing the flame further towards him. Letting Essence limber his limbs, Bryce leapt forwards, flipping through the air. A flash of pain as the fire seared his back barely registered, his Essence-guarded skin absorbing most of the blow, as Bryce flew through the air towards the surprised beast. His spear flashed outwards, curving down, as he slammed it into the beast's back in order to stop his arc.
The serpent howled in pain, and the Fair Folk woman stared up at Bryce in surprise. Quick as lightning, he withdrew his spear, levelling it for another blow. However, the serpent had other ideas. Rolling over, it attempted to crush Bryce against the rocky forest floor. Leaping off, Bryce rolled to his feet, taking stock. He'd hurt the monster, but it had hurt him, and the Fair Folk hadn't entered the fight. Standing, he sprinted over to where Amanda stood, watching in awe. "Time to run!" Grabbing her hand, he started to sprint; for a fraction of a second, she resisted out of instinct, before joining him.
As the two ran, Bryce glanced backwards. Behind him, he heard the serpent crashing through the trees. "They screwed up. That thing flies, by nature, but we're in the woods. If it had attacked in the open scrub..." He trailed off, worried, and Amanda looked at him as though she hadn't seen him before.
"Bryce... that was..." Bryce shook his head to cut her off.
"Later. Run now."
The two continued to run through the woods, but Amanda was running out of breath, and Bryce had to admit that he wasn't much better off. The serpent, on the other hand, didn't seem to be slowing down at all. Bryce frowned, and looked at Amanda. "Amanda, keep running." The area around him looked as good as any to make a stand. In fact, it looked perfect. He skidded to a halt. "I'll slow it down. Warn the garrison."
"No!" Amanda stopped a few feet away, running back to Bryce. "You'll be killed! I'm not leaving you to that thing!"
"What are you going to do? You aren't a soldier!" Bryce looked back, to where the serpent was rapidly approaching. He put his hand on a rock to steady himself. "You aren't going to be able to help. I need to know that you'll be safe, Amanda."
"To hell with that!" Amanda pointed off to one side. "Look, there's a cave over there. If you're actually going to try to fight that monstrosity, do it somewhere where it can't maneuver!"
"Umm... fire breath?" Bryce glanced back to where the sounds of approaching serpent were growing louder. When he looked back, Amanda was already in the cave mouth.
"It's okay, this place curves a lot. Hey, I think it narrows - it might not be able to get in at all. Come on, Bryce!" With a wave, Amanda charged into the cave. Bryce paused for a fraction of a second, and then raced after her.
Inside, the cave was dark and musty. Bryce shook off a sense of deja vu as he followed Amanda, twisting through the increasingly narrow curves of the tunnels. Amanda was waiting for him, and led the way.
"Amanda, this is a bad plan. The snake'll just wait outside, and..."
"Maybe there's a back entrance. Do you feel a draft?" Bryce could barely see in the darkness, but Amanda's figure ahead of him was pressing on, so he followed her, glancing behind him once or twice.
"This place... have we been here before?" Bryce looked around again, pressing himself sideways to slip through a particularly narrow gap. Darkness pressed in around him, the shades of a dying... the memory slipped away as he reached for it, and he frowned.
"Not that I remember. I don't usually go into caves. Maybe you and Brewan?"
"No, I don't think so. It's... I don't know. Maybe when I was a kid." Bryce sighed, trying to pin down the fluttering memories, but they remained stubbornly out of reach. "I hope there's a back way out of here. Is it getting lighter?"
"Seems to be, yeah. I think we've got a decent shot at... this..." Amanda trailed off as she slipped through a gap ahead of Bryce. He noticed that she seemed to have found an open area - and then he reached her, and froze as well.
The room that they were standing in was perfectly circular, with numerous tiny slits in the ceiling letting in sunlight in patterns across the floor. In the centre of the room was a four-armed statue, standing proud and, it seemed, staring directly at Bryce. In its right hands it held a gleaming golden spear.
And Bryce remembered.
