Matthew gritted his teeth and edged closer. Mable stumbled ahead, her limbs moving with the weightless wobble of a newborn foal—as if her bones were no longer her own.
Her hollow, unfocused eyes stared through the darkness, and for a moment, he wondered if there was even anything left to save.
A cold knot of guilt formed in his belly.
The Pale Maw was agonizingly slow, the trek to the entrance felt like it took his entire life. His belly boiled as he followed the mass of rolling flesh.
What if it sensed him and turned back, how would he escape from here? It blocked the entire tunnel with its morbid mass.
Matthew imagined it turning and all of its thralls holding him down.
Its body opening…
He began counting his breaths to try and remain calm, some of the Pale Maw's stringy tentacles turned to him.
He gripped his jacket hard and closed his eyes.
Breath, you aren't in danger.
He opened his eyes, the cold glow of his blue eyes fell on the Maw's pale, rotting form. It was the prey here, the one sorely unprepared.
He walked more confidently, watching Mable totter forward.
He was nearing the cave entrance soon. The white radiance of the dark forest broke the darkness making him squint. There was the buzzing of the forest he was so used to and the crash of the waterfall not too far from here.
The twisted and endless procession of trees stretched out around the ridge and clearing, the earth was moist and grassy
He took in the warm scents of the forest and swung his hands in anticipation, no more time. Gareth had seen them from the ledge, his dark eyes searched the procession of death, landing on Mable and Matthew.
"Mable!"
His relief and fierce determination was like a dinner bell to the Pale maw, all of its horrid tentacles pointed to the tall boy with an iron sword and short dark hair. Gareth's jaw tightened, he roared. "Come get us, you fucking corpse!"
All of the thralls paused.
Then they began to run with an uncanny stride. Matthew attacked in an instant, kicking Mable down. In seconds the vine ropes in his hands wrapped around her legs and hands.
He picked her up and began running towards the waterfall.
The maw shuddered, sensing a problem, then a slab of its flesh sheared off with a wet, glutinous pop. The mass writhed, twitching like roadkill clinging to life.
Then another piece followed. And another. The pieces began to crawl.
Matthew cursed, "Dammit!"
Mable fought hard on his back, she banged her hands against his back drawing pained cries from her captor. He was far from the Waterfall and a lot slower than usual.
The divided pieces of the maw were quicker than their original.
One of them followed him, streaking through the bright green foliage like a stream of mercury.
Thirty meters. His legs ached with every step, lungs scraping for air like rusted bellows. The smaller maw seemed tireless and relentless, the dark shadows of the forest curled away as death rushed to reclaim its prized
He ducked as the stringy tentacle lashed forward for his neck. The smaller maw's tentacle seemed slower, it could also just be his enhancements.
It seemed to be built to move quickly. Mable slammed against his back once again, this time it helped him as he stumbled out of the way of a streaking tentacle.
He dropped Mable hard, snarling at the smaller Maw.
"If you're so eager to die I won't stand in your way."
Matthew pulled his knife out and ran around the creature, the smaller maw followed happily.
It was made to chase and capture after all.
It struck only in straight lines and warped its body around trees to follow him. He found a suitably large rock and ran behind it.
Unable to split its body around the massive rock, it circled the rock only to find he had disappeared.
It searched the green forest, its stringy tentacle jumping between trees. A crisp crack ran through the forest.
Something moved in the bushes, the buzzing silence of the forest grew quiet.
The maw froze, tentacle slowing to an almost still float. The radiant light of the white moss seemed to intensify as the seconds passed.
The world darkened around the smaller maw.
Then the creature struck, its tentacle stabbing into the bushes.
A quadrupedal beast crawled out of the bushes, drool fell from the enthralled beast mouth stupidly.
Far away, Matthew had used his stealth to escape the monster, circling back and picked up Mable knowing he only had a few seconds.
Her defiant punches faded away as he dashed forward, his chest burned as sharp brief breaths escaped him.
The waterfall came into view, followed by a wide, empty riverbed. Stella and three others rushed to meet him halfway.
Mable broke her vine trap finally, her arms locked around his neck like steel. He pulled against her arms, a sharp not of panic settling in him
Not too far he could hear things creeping closer behind him.
He groaned, then slammed his fist into Mable's stomach. Her grip loosened as a pained gasp escaped her throat, and Matthew slammed her hard into the ground.
Quickly pulling out a light pouch from his back pocket, he stuck his gloved hands into the pouch coating them in purple dust.
Mable recovered quickly, her strange milky eyes furious and growling like a rabid animal as she lunged at him.
Matthew caught her arm and turned her around.
The purple dust burned into her skin, she screamed horribly and fell to her knees. The paralytic worked quickly, she became quiet and still after a few moments.
Matthew prayed silently that the dose wasn't too much as he turned to the two figures approaching him.
The smaller maw and an enthralled monstrosity approached him calmly.
Stella and the others still coming froze, their faces turned pale. The thrall was a massive blue beast, it had four boulder-like legs with three stubby toes, Its carapace armor was transparent and segmented.
Stella screamed, "Matthew run!"
He was perfectly still and quiet, the two creatures walked up to him bearing down on him like death.
His slow breathes felt striking and loud in such a still space. The maw had sensed Stella and the others, its tentacle swarm through the air carefully.
They couldn't sense him.
Once he was in between the two beasts his right hand struck suddenly, it rubbed over an unprotected portion of the Blue thrall's ribs.
He rolled away as both of the monsters struck, then ran and pulled out the pouch, covering his gloved gingersin the last of the purple dust.
He turned to the smaller maw, its blue thrall had collapsed and Stella was sprinting towards them.
Matthew stared at this disgusting mass of rolling flesh, he paled. "I don't really know how to kill you just yet."
The creature's tentacle flashed at him, like a vision of death. His hand moved before him.
Catching the stringy tentacle just in front of his eyes, " but I owe you, even if you didn't really kill Noa."
The pale flesh mound shuddered then turned liquid, spreading over the green grass.
Stella walked up grinning, "Let's go fin—that wasn't what we came to fight?"
Matthew's grim expression was enough of an answer, he held out his hand. "Do you mind helping me wash off the paralytic?"
After he took off the gloves, he sprinted back into the dense line of trees. Stella shouted behind him, "Good luck!"
Matthew grimaced, cold sweat running down his back, he had a feeling that they would be sorely needing it.