COBALT: The Red Phantom (Book One)

Chapter 12: Molve Bait (Part 3/4)

          The Molve ripped the air with a bellowing roar, bursting into bright orange flames with it's jagged canines bared and coated with thick saliva. It was a familiar sight to Káel, who was scared enough given the circumstances.

          His defensive posture faltered for a split second as the Molve's murderous gaze burned a hole through his mind. He couldn't tell if it was staring at him, since its pupiless eyes were simply a swirly hurricane of thrashing orange magic. But he also didn't feel like the thing was going to stop at simply taking his ribbon.

          "Run?" Phantom whispered, the surprise clear in his tone as he soaked in the mysterious bloodlust.

          Káel slowly nodded, then twisted around on his heels, fleeing for his life. The Molve didn't spare a second in commencing its chase, leaping into a sprint and landing a few feet behind him.

          Digging its claws into the ground to prevent it from sliding into the wall, it used its momentum to propel itself forwards yet again, landing inches from Phantom's flapping tailcoat. Puff cried in terror as a couple freshly scraped pebbles flew over his head, doubling the bouncing gallop of his stubby limbs until he was a scurrying white blur that left Káel and Phantom in the dust, vanishing into the black mouth of the hall they fled down.

          Cinder swooped down in front of Káel, chirping urgently at him over the loud panting of the Molve, but her singing voice was completely useless without words to go with them.

          "She says to follow her!" Phantom yelled, . "But you're not gonna get far without a distraction for Mr. Chomps."

          "Do I look like I can stop a massive living boulder?!" Káel panted, stubbing his toe on a rock jutting out of the ground, and almost tripping to his doom.

          "I'd tell you to try using your guardian, but a fat load of use Mudbrain is being."

          Following Cinder's lead, Káel whipped around another corner, straight into a bare and broken room. The light of day cracked through a webbing of thick tree roots sheltering a deep pool stretching across the entire ground, its calm surface dancing in the dead wind's shadow like a coat of mesmerizing scales. 

          "Time to swim," Káel announced, biting the grimy old hilt of his dagger with a bitter tang of regret as he sloppily dived into the pool.

          Phantom ran across the water and looked down at Káel as he passed him, clearly expecting the youth to drown under the elements. "What are you? A fish?" He stopped dead as Káel quickly reached the other side with a couple gasping breaths. "I thought earthlings couldn't swim."

          "Please shut up," Káel wheezed, dropping his forehead in the dirt while half his body stayed submerged. He could already feel his soggy combat suit weighing down his shoulders, and the water's icy fangs had sucked most of the air out of his lungs. 

          The Molve stopped at the water line, growling with seething rage at its escaped target. 

          Káel pulled himself up with the generous break, collapsing against a wall nearly as broken as his will to live in exhaustion. Cinder took roost upon his head, nesting in the damp tangles of black hair with a chirping sigh.

          "Get up Unicorn Boy, we need to make as big a lead as we can," Phantom ordered, pointing at the Molve as it slowly submerged itself into the shimmering depths.

          Káel cursed under his breath, willing his stiff joints to best the crushing weight of his combat suit and walk him somewhere safe. Every footstep leaked a distinct trail of the grimy water covering him in an exceptionally unwelcomed hug, giving the molve a generous tail of wet string to follow to its prey when it got out of the water.