Tragic Innocence

Chapter 41: Friend of Foe?

            Pentulla felt herself being washed away into blackness and then felt the coldness of the ground pressing harshly against her face.  She thought she had heard a voice crying out for her before a terrorizing growl had eclipsed its plea.  Where ever it was that she had fallen into felt malevolent and deep…

            “Pentulla!” Crow agonized over her well-being when he had witnessed her pale form strike Zolata’s smooth-tiled floor.

            The monster turned its head as quickly as it could, which did not compare to Crow’s agility in speed.  He forced himself to forget Pentulla for the short time being to protect himself from the creature’s onslaught.

            With a sharp explosive, the demon screeched and swung its massive tail about, aiming for Crow’s head.

            Crow ducked and dropped into a rolling direction toward Pentulla, rising with fluidic movements to his feet at once.  The demon hissed as the only thing visible was its diminutive eyes.

            “Pentulla!” Crow attempted to awaken her once more.  She stirred with a soft moan and Crow knew she would be all right.

            The demon narrowed its glowing eyes and lunged its head quickly at the pair, its huge teeth razor sharp against the raised and protective arm of Crow’s, whose feeble attempts to ward off its attack was met with a piercing cry of anguish.

            Crow clenched his teeth hard as he felt a wave of excruciation, interwoven with nausea, assail him like a ruthless battering ram.   His sword clattered with obnoxious clamor to the ground by his stumbling feet.

            “Crow?” Pentulla weakly murmured, her voice riddled with fear and concern.

            He could barely answer through his teeth as another black wave of threatening void washed over him.

            “Crow!” Pentulla struggled to her quaking legs.  The slow movement of red eyes snared her full attention and she came to a skittering halt, her fingertips barely skimming the soft hair of Crow’s.

            “Pentulla--” Crow’s voice was taut and faltered as he dropped to his knees.  “You must seek help.  See if you can find Zolata--”

            “No!  I won’t leave you!”

            “Pentulla!” Crow bellowed angrily, his voice no longer soothing and calm, but grating and strained with harshness and torture.

            “No!” she growled with equal fervor as terror and anger propelled her into a state of frenzied protectiveness.  She could still see Mikash’s eyes wide with horror as the impudent imp obtained his vulnerable body with sharpened over-long talons of serrated death.  “I will not leave you here to die!”

            “Go!  I must fulfill my oath to you--Pentulla!”

            She shuddered as his voice seemed to be squeezed between into a funneling sharp point.  She did not recognize him and it petrified her.  What should I do?  What should I do?  What should I do?  Over and over again her thoughts chased each other relentlessly within her throbbing head.

            A sharp howling thundered the entire vicinity and the demon reared upon its hind legs in preparation to quell its foes into pieces of gore.

            “Pentulla!” Crow cried out in desperation as he finally managed to call upon what remaining strength he possessed and wrestled to his feet in feeble movements.  He raised his bloodied sword and slashed it with a hissing retaliation.  The demon shrieked as it made a connection to its soft and exposed belly and tumbled to the ground with a shattering tumble.