Blue Blood

The Cave Of Wyrms: Part 2

Their jaws and jagged teeth snap and scrape against my armor and exposed skin. The farther into the cave I go, the more there are. As I run, the wyrms become smaller and smaller yet the larger ones follow but with even more ferocity. These must be their young, it would make sense. I try not to feel too bad about squashing babies and push on harder. Even the babies have teeth.

Every surface of the cave is alive and angry. A thunderstorm of hissing, clicking, and snapping screams though the cave until I start to go numb to the noise. One of the wyrms takes a piece off my ear and I quickly swat it away. The blood pooling in my ear makes me shiver. How much longer can I do this? Even if I do find Rody, will we even be able to get back out alive? And what if he really isn't in here and I've been chasing a red herring? No, I can't give up on him. If there is any chance at all that he is in here, I have to keep going.

They start becoming more vicious then ever before as I run closer and closer to their unhatched eggs. They do anything to keep me from stomping the eggs, including diving under my feet to protect them with their bodies. Their bodies crunch and squish under my boot, making me sick. I yell out in pain as one takes a sizable chunk out of my shoulder. I crush it's head with one hand, blood spattering against its comrades. The cave gets darker and darker as the wyrms stop caring about having their mouths alight.

Three start crawling up my legs, trying to get past the armor and into the meat below. I move my sore legs harder trying to shake them off but they hold tight. Their tiny claws dig deep into the skin of my thighs and calfs. I growl and tear them off of me, taking some blood and skin with them. I can't keep doing this, I need to find him.

"Rody!" I scream past the shrieks and hissing. My lungs can't take this for much longer. "Rody!" I scream again, my voice cracking and whining. I'm getting slower and slower, my legs feeling like boulders. The wyrms take the advantage and pounce on me tearing and gnawing at the tender flesh around my neck, arms, and legs. "Ro-" I am thrown to the ground suddenly.

The wyrms don't skip a beat as they throw themselves onto me. One giant wyrm stands behind them all with glowing white eyes. I cover my head as best I can as they assault my body. With every slice, every scrape, I get weaker and weaker. My hands go ice cold and weak. Soon enough the creatures claw their way past my hands and scratch at my face. This is it. This is the end. I let go one final exhale and close my eyes.

"Magnus!" A voice screams through the darkness. My eyes slowly open part ways, urged to close by the monsters freightful glare. I could have sworn-

"Magnus, get up!" The voice screams again. An unknown power starts to surge through me, a second wind. I squeeze my eyes shut and push my hands under me. The muscles scream and shake under me so I push harder. Some of the wyrms leave but the ones that stay jump onto my back, trying to keep me down.

"Magnus please, please get up, I need you!" The voice screams before a shriek escapes their body. I fumble for my hammer and grip it tightly. My legs spring under me and I swing as hard as I can in a circle to get the monstrosities off of me. My eyes dart around looking for the source of the voice and find a cluster of wyrms converging on one target. With a burst of fire and the swing of his sword, the wyrms in front of him are slain. More quickly take their place and continue the assault.

I duck my head and rush forward, swinging as best I can. Loud thumping follows behind me, most likely the large wyrm that took me down the first time. I quickly turn around, drive my hammer into the side of its head, and keep running. It's skull collides with the cave wall and it roars angrily.

My legs shake and wobble with each step but I have to keep going, just keep going. My eyes make contact with the voice from before and I run faster. He is here, this wasn't for nothing, not yet. I charge at him and crash through the wyrms surrounding him. In one fell swoop, I hoist him over my shoulder and continue running.

"Mags, put me down, I'm too heavy!" He reasons. I ignore him and keep running.

"Which way out of here?" I pant and heave.

"Didn't you hear me?" He shouts frustrated.

"Which way out of here!?" I repeat louder. He stagers for a second trying to think. This cave is a maze, one wrong turn and we could be mince meat.

"Turn right, now!" I do as told and almost run into a wall. "Now turn left!" He commands. I follow his instructions as he fights off the wyrms at my back.

Left, right, left, left. A light appears at the end of the tunnel and I almost cry tears of joy. We're almost there, almost-

"Magnus look out!" Within a second and Without thinking, I pull him in front of me and out of harms way. Something hits fast and hard behind us. It feels like a Boulder was lobbed at my back. The hit was just enough to throw us out the opening of the cave and into a field of sweet grass. The wyrms reach the edge of the cave and hiss at us. They can't enter the light, thank the gods.

I breath a sigh of relief. I take one deep breath and throw up everything in my stomach, over and over again. Rody swears between desperate gulps of air.

"It's, *huff, huff* about time I saved your ass." Rody remarks with a smile. I dodge the vomit on the ground and collapse.

"Mags?" I can't move. I can barely breath. "Oh shit, Mags, stay awake okay?" He digs into his pockets looking for anything that might help. He pulls out a handkerchief and applies pressure on the wounds that need it the most. It hurts but I can't even complain about it. After awhile, I finally get some breath back.

"I'm sorry . . . For scaring you. I never meant . . . To cause you alarm. I'd never hurt you." I gasp through the pain and fatigue. He pulls my upper half into his lap and sighs. Despite appearing calm, his hands shake like a dead tree in the wind.

"I know, I'm sorry too. I should have known but . . . You have to admit, you looked like you were ready to murder someone; sounded like it too."

"I was."

Silence falls between us. The birds chirp their endless tune and the wind does their backup chorus. Leaves fall gently to the ground and a few drops of rain follow them.

"It's starting to rain." Rody comments, his lip quivering as he looks at my bloody body in his arms.

"Yep."

"What are we gonna do? All of our stuff is on the other side of the cave. No food, no water, no shelter, no medicine." His voice becomes more grave near the end. "And what about Edima? Is she gonna be okay without us?" I grab his hand and squeeze it tightly.

"It's gonna be okay, Edima will be fine. We'll get through this. We've survived this long, what's one more day?" I breath, air still just out of my reach. He smiles half heartedly and dances his fingers along my scalp.

"You always say that, 'It's gonna be okay,' How do you know? How do you always know everything is going to be okay?" He questions, voice cracking.

"Because I have you."

Rain starts to pour down on us in gentle sheets. It stings and burns at my wounds yet a small smile still finds it's way to my face. If I'm going to die, no better place then right here.

"Mags, I think someone is-" a puff of pink smoke floats around Rody's head before he falls limp. Adrenaline pumps hard through my veins. Using my last ounce of strength, I dart up only to be met with the same pink smoke. I cough and try to hold my breath but it's no use. My eyelids fall and so does my body. The storm around me grows angrier and more fierce. Giant sheets of ice water pummel the earth. Voices grow closer and closer but I am useless to stop them and soon I'm unconscious.

"Where did these guys come from?"