The Lady and The Hunter

Chapter 5

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Jacob quickly lit the lantern to see that he, Maisie, and Laura were inside the beast's mouth. Maisie was on his back while Laura was unconscious in the row boat. Upon hearing soft growls coming from further inside the beast, Jacob turned around as Maisie held onto him tighter.

"Are we gonna..die in here?" She asked. Jacob helped her down onto the boat, glancing over at Laura for a split second before crouching down to Maisie's level. "No." He said, earning a loud growl from the beast. "Well... Yeah."

"Is it going to chew us, or will we get digested slowly with acids?" She asked. "I don't know, Maisie. This is all new territory for me."

"Haven't you hunted these things your whole life?" Maisie hugged her knees closer to her chest in fright. "We kill 'em, lass. We don't study 'em." He said.

"T-then..maybe it's time..you..you start." Laura sat up from where she was lying down, letting out a soft groan. She placed her hand on her face where the stinging sensation continued, feeling cloth on her face. "What-"

"Don't touch that." Jacob moved over to Laura, staring directly at her as she sat there with wide eyes. "what happened-" She looked around, noticing the mouth structure inside a beast's mouth, and before she could scream, Jacob placed his hand over her mouth gently, not to touch where her cut was wrapped.

"Don't scream, we don't know what it'll do if we make loud sounds." He said softly. She quietly stared into his eyes, calming down slightly as he stared back into hers. Maisie cleared her throat before attempting to whistle as they broke eye contact.

Jacob got up, wrapping rope around his torso, and grabbed the spear in the boat. "I'm going to take a look." He said, gently stepping off of the row boat. "Jacob, what if it swallows you?" Maisie asked. He stopped and looked over his shoulder at her. "Cut the rope." was all he said before walking away. "It'll be okay.." Laura whispered to her. "I'm sorry about the rope... I should've stopped.." Maisie said, moving closer.

"It is alright. Hunters gain scars do they not? By the feeling of this one, it'll definitely become one but I'm hoping it doesn't." She chuckled. "What you did was the right thing.." Laura finished, gently pulling Maisie in for a hug. She hugged her back.

Laura's pov

Maisie suddenly pulled away from the hug when she noticed that the rope was slowly moving in the direction Jacob went. It was wrapped around her tiny little waist. "Come on.." Maisie insisted as she followed the rope. I got up, following behind her, watching as she was pulled upwards into a new area. It was a high jump that's for sure. I took a deep breath before jumping up and holding onto the edge with my shoulders as support. Maisie had helped pull me up so that I didn't fall back.

"Thank you.." We followed where the rope led to finding Jacob standing near an opening like a window but no water flowing in. "Amazing.." I whispered, moving further in with Maisie.

We stood together at the opening next to Jacob, watching the beautiful sight before us. The sight of coral reefs and fishes swimming around was fascinating. It was like another world below the surface! It felt warm and safe. It felt like.. Home."

As the beast swam upwards, we began falling back. Maisie had fallen onto the side of Jacob and I landed right on top of him. We completely ignored each other, looking back to the opening to see what was going on. We noticed an island just up ahead. I quickly got off of him as he got up, grabbing his spear.

"What are you going to do?" Maisie asked. "I'm gonna kill it."

"Like hell you are!" I said. "Kill it? How?" Maisie asked, worry in her tone. "Well, I don't know, I just get pumped up and kind of wing it." He said...
"You're joking.."

"Look, don't overthink this, all right? I'm just gonna kill it." He said to her. As he said this, the nostrils opened up, letting air in and it almost blew us back. "I don't know about this!"

"I'm Jacob Holland, remember, who killed five of them beast in two days and this is just another beast."

"Jacob, don't do this. Think about it, if the beast wanted us dead we would be." I said, stepping forward and placing my hand on his shoulder. He looked over at me with a small smile. "I have to try."

"There has to be another way!" Maisie says. " Afraid not lass."

"Can't you kill it from the inside?" Maisie asked as Jacob began to untie the rope from or torso. He stopped untying and before he could respond to what she was suggesting a large gust of wind had hit up from the back, throwing us out through the beasts' nostrils.

I landed in the water below, quickly swimming up and crawling onto the beach, coughing up some water. I moved my hair out of my face, turning over to notice Jacob swinging around from the rope that was still inside the beast's nose. That's when I noticed Maisie was still up there.

The beast held the rope up with its fin, examining the object before pulling it down. Maisie swung out, crying for Jacob who missed grabbing him as she swung by the tree he was perched on before swinging back towards the beast who suddenly grabbed her by the shoe, gentle enough to hold her in place. As I watched my eyes slowly widened.

"It truly is you..." I whispered.

As Maisie tilted her head, so did the beast.

Jacob made it to the top of the tree before jumping off and swinging toward the beast. "No, wait!" Maisie and I shouted. Maisie slipped her way out of the shoe that was held by the beast, causing Jacob to fall face-first into the sand in front of me.

Jacob looked up and I looked to see what he was so focused on. The spear. As he got up, running towards the spear, I noticed he was still tied to Maisie. "Jacob stop! You'll pull her with you-"

A large wave came crashing into Jacob caused by the beast's fin, knocking him back onto land. As the water cleared, the beast walked onto the land, heading into the forest.

"You could've killed me!" Maisie yelled at Jacob.

I walked over to the rowboat that the beast had kindly placed there before leaving. I grabbed my satchel and pulled out the book that Eliza had given to me.

Jacob and Maisie were shouting at one another about
Who could've killed who? I turned around and made my way over to the two.

"How about we find something to eat and take a break? I know we all want to get back to some kind of civilization, no?" I asked, placing a hand on my hip. Growls and squawks came from the forest and we all froze, looking in the direction each sound came from.

"We best find shelter," Jacob said, walking ahead.
Maisie and I both followed behind. "Right."

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