Chapter 32:

Eres was grateful for the morning light as she ran ahead of the other two. She weaved over or between the hazards at her feet, pulling ahead of Leo’s less coordinated form. Amira lagged behind, her shorter legs and poorly trained physique holding them back. Eres glanced back at her, clicking her tongue.

“Leo, can you just carry her?”

He looked at her like she was a moron. “You want me to carry someone in the middle of the woods at a dead sprint?”

“…”

She looked forward, pouting. Didn’t have to be such a dick about it.

So they slowed their pace. Amira ran for as long as she could, went until her legs shook and her speed slowed to a walk. 

Amira leaned against a tree, sliding down, sweat pouring from her forehead. “Can’t…keep…”

Leo and Eres looked at each other. Eres sighed, but helped Amira to her feet. The girl tried to push herself standing, but Eres forced her to lean over, hands on her knees.

“Breathe. Don’t sit.”

Suddenly, screams came from nearby. At least three kids, by Eres’s estimation. Probably more. Her brow furrowed.

“I’m going to check on them.”

Leo stepped forward. “Don’t be stupid. You can’t use Blink.”

He ruffled Eres’s hair. “Stay here. I’ll be back.”

Before she could argue, Leo shot into the forest. Exasperated, Eres bit at her nail, then turned to Amira. She rubbed her back, pulling her hair up when the girl started gagging. She grimaced when Amira spewed up the one bite of lizard she’d had. 

“Feeling better?”

The girl cleared her throat, looked up at Eres, eyes miserable, and whimpered. “I hate this.”

Eres smiled ruefully. “It gets better.”

Amira shook her head, the silent refusal making Eres laugh. 

“Can you walk?”

“Yeah.” Eres pulled away as Amira straightened her back. “Barely.”

The rustling of something in the trees made Eres flinch. Quickly, she pulled her wand out and aimed at the sound.

One moment. Two. Then, from the overgrowth, someone flew out, stumbling and pale, their face tight with horror. Leo looked at the two of them, eyes wide. 

“RUN!”

He passed by Eres, scooped Amira onto his shoulder like a bag of potatoes, and darted back into the tree-line. 

Eres, shocked, looked where he’d run off, then glanced where he’d come. There were taller trees behind the ones in her line of sight. The cool grip of fear took hold of her when she realized they were moving. Rather, something was moving them. And it was coming closer. 

She didn’t require further motivation to take Leo’s advice. Just as she dashed away, she could see the outline of something tremendous breaking through into the clearing. She didn’t dare to stay for a good look. She bolted away, mind screaming “Danger!”

It didn’t take long to reach Leo; he was slowed by the girl on his shoulder and winded from the previous sprint, not having taken the chance to breathe. Eres caught up, grabbed his arm, and half dragged him faster. It was only through luck his foot didn’t catch on anything. 

Where were they going? Where could they escape to? Eres thought frantically even as she gasped, straining to keep her pace. Leo was lagging behind, his wrist slipping from her grip. 

It was no good. The creature would surely catch up. Leo needed time to run, and Amira, self admittedly, had no skills to help combat the creature. She had to think.

They needed help. If this thing was as fearsome as Amira claimed, they’d need all hands on deck. But how could she contact them? They didn’t have phones…

Eres nearly slapped her own face. Dumbass, use magic! 

She aimed her wand skyward and let loose her weakest fireball. The gleaming streak of red flew high above the tree, for as long as she could control it, before finally it burst with an audible crack, the red flame crackling into a small explosion. 

Leo turned, slowing, but Eres glanced over, and shouted, “Keep running! Find the others!”

He bit his lip, but listened to her words. He glanced over at her once more before dashing off with the shaken girl on his shoulder. 

Eres looked at the oncoming creature and immediately regretted her decision. 

“What the fuck is that?!”

Eres shivered as it skittered into view. Yes, skittered. The creature was tan, its thorax and bulbous abdomen sporting spindly, hairy legs. The “face” was covered by bulbous eyes, its mouth gaping and lined by two pincers. From the back, a tail swayed out behind the creature, knocking into nearby trees, the stinger scraping bark from them. 

The moment Eres spoke, the creature’s eyes rotated toward her. It’s mandibles clicked, chittering as it rushed her with an uncanny burst of speed. 

Eres panicked, threw herself backwards, and tossed a fireball into its face. The booming explosion did little to slow it down, however, and though Eres fled, it followed, albeit delayed from pain. 

Her hair raised, heart pumped, mind flooded with fear. Damn! Fuck! WHY ME?!

She tossed a fireball each time the creature approached, each one more desperate than the last as she ran, unknowing where she was going or how to escape. 

For a full minute, there was only her, the creature, and the fear of being caught.

A shadow moved behind her. Eres, her brain spiking in panic, jumped to the side, rolling into a bush just as the tail skewered the ground she’d been standing on. 

Eres lost her balance, the inclined slope slipping her footing, and she began to roll downhill. She cursed, covered her head, and prayed she wouldn’t slam into a tree. 

 The world spun, and Eres’s body rolled and rolled until she thought she might pass out from dizziness. When the momentum carrying her finally ran out, she could barely move. She’d rolled straight out of the forest, though where, she wasn’t sure. 

She looked up, vision still swimming, and her heart tightened. From the trees, multiple legs wrapped around the tree trunks and pulled the creature out, looking around before its eyes landed on Eres.

A chittering chirp, almost like a laugh, danced through its pincers, and it crawled toward her. 

Eres raised her hand, shooting a fireball, but in her dizziness and her magic fatigue, the shot missed entirely before fizzling out with a boom no louder than a firework. It took concentration to cast, and she was plum out. 

The urge to vomit rose in her, though she tried to suppress it, the horrifying creature in front of her secondary to the still-spinning world she’d yet to recover from. 

She looked behind herself for somewhere to crawl away, but the vast lake she’d stumbled near left her nowhere to run. Could she swim? She doubted it.

A shadow loomed over her. The creature blotted out the morning sun behind it, its shape dark and deadly and near. 

Eres panted, feeling the minor cuts and pains and bruises in her body, and though death was in front of her, she couldn’t help but smile. The creature, fearsome as it was, was stripped bare of hairs on its head from her spells.

The spindly things stopped short, the bare patch visible. Eres suddenly had the impression of a middle-aged spider-scorpion-thing. 

She laughed.

Perhaps surprised, the creature halted for a moment before it struck its tail toward her. 

Eres closed her eyes.

Yet, the expected end never came. In its place, a grinding of stone and the sound of rock shattering caused her eyes to snap back open. 

The stinger was stopped short by a stone wall that appeared as if from nowhere. Eres, mouth dropping open, glanced back to the hill she’d rolled down.

She nearly cried. She stood to her feet, heart lifting at the sight of each of her friends sprinting toward her.

At the front, Ed rushed down the hill, wand outstretched, spell cast. The little guy had saved her life. 

Leo sprinted ahead of him, eyes solely on Eres, and Eliza followed close at heel, each of them rushing to help her. Celise, and Arille half-slid down the uncertain footing, faces panicked and frightened. Amira, tree-branch in hand, looked just as exhausted as before, yet twice as determined.

Eres smiled. She looked at her friends, ignoring the creature as it pulled free of Ed’s wall.

“Took you long enough,” She whispered.