Dew stood on the lower steps with his sword raised. A centipede, its length nearly twice his height, twirled forward with a hiss. The clean blade sliced through its head. Purple acidic blood oozed over the metal and sizzled with a slightly metallic yet putrid steam. Fingers swiped into his robes to retrieve a small rag that swept along the katana’s length before being returned to his robes. Purple steam erupted from a dismembered head. Incisors clicked by Dew’s feet.
Headless body thrashed forward. Dew dodged to the left to avoid being rammed or sliced open by dangerously sharp legs that still moved at full speed. Evaporating blood became poison mist before the beast’s wounds congealed. The headless centipede crawled with erratic whirling back among the others. Frenzied by pheromones, several centipedes devoured the headless body. Several more charged at Dew. He stood his ground with his palm bracing the back of his sword.
An inferno blast singed hair as it rippled past. It ripped past the attacking centipedes, with the first being burnt to ashes within a moment. The pile of centipedes feasting on their headless companion split open. Flames erupted from their bodies. The foul stench of death hit with the speed of a sharp wind. Darrell clutched his sword while pressing his shirt to his nose with his other hand. Vestor squinted as he gagged while struggling to keep clinging to his shoulders.
“What are these things? I can’t take this smell!”
Dew pointed his sword at the cavern doorway where the woman had been sleeping. A swirling mass of centipede bodies pushed inside.
“We can discuss that later. They are trapped!”
“Nadia!” Vestor yelled, then coughed, then wretched.
“Get the child to where the odor scent be overpowering.”
Darrell nodded and retreated backwards behind Josh, who gripped his arm as he tried to hold himself together. The burning scar on his arm from his collar to make the veins on the right side of his neck bulge. He couldn’t sense Nadia’s influence; had she been eaten? He moved forward towards Dew. The largest centipede crawled forward with its front body upright. The full length of its body six meters and it was thicker than most full-grown tree trunks.
Lines of legs sliced back and forth searching for a surface to clutch. Dew hopped back while lowering his weapon. His sword hilt shifted in his palm so the blade faced upward. It slashed up the underside of the segments. Energy spewed forth in a line to slice and push the creature back once it hit the inside of the carapace. Innards burst. Violet slime splashed over Dew’s sleeping robes. He coughed.
The injured centipede, sliced open from nearly top to bottom with its internal organs in disarray, continued to attack. Toxic fumes steamed from the wound. Dew’s sword, again coated in acidic sludge, raised, shifted to the side, and swiped off the creature’s head in one swing. The beast, now flayed and headless, charged at Dew. He dodged backwards, but more creatures surrounded him. Wooden sandals shifted on the only clear stone purchase he could find. He brought the back end of the sword against his forehead, even as it dripped with toxic sludge that burnt skin. Pincers dug into his right calve. Venom burned up his leg and shot into his thigh.
“Divine wind, hear my prayer.”
A centipede lunged for his left leg. Fangs stuck upon stone. Dew attacked towards the door. His sword blurred as it swung through the bodies. They lunged upon him from every direction, yet no attack went unanswered. Heads, limbs, segments, chunks of chitin, and antennae flew from his fury of consecutive swings. Bodies tumbled and curled upon the steps without their heads, yet refused to die. The toxic mist thickened. Dew’s arms pulsed and his legs tensed as he cut through bodies only to receive more.
Katana sizzled with a hiss that mimicked the cry of the centipedes. Poison fumes rose from drenched robes. Yet, the centipedes, for all their numbers, couldn’t close upon him without falling to his sword. He pushed forward toward the clogged door. Yet the more he sliced the slower his progress. The greatest mass of the centipedes protected the entryway. Dew countered diving attacks from four sides as he found himself surrounded and unable to make progress. A hacking cough racked his burning lungs.
“You don’t deserve life! I won’t hold back! Divine wind, hear my prayer!”
Another frenzy of attacks diced the centipedes, but there were too many of them for Dew to move forward. Fire twirled around Joshes his scarred arm. He targeted the wounded centipedes from Dew’s frenzy of attacks with bursts of fire that ate the soft material inside the chitinous armor. Chitin glowed with a warm red as the fire spread to hollow the beasts from within. An acrid, lung burning smog billowed from the bodies. But the beasts fell silent as the squirming, thrashing, and ramming stopped. They curled into a husk and died.
“Nadia, you better be alive in there.”
But more centipedes sprung from the cliffs. These were smaller and faster. Josh varied his attacks; the force of the incubus smashed the heads of the beasts in violet bursts. The smaller, swift centipedes popped one after the other. But the headless didn’t stop attacking, the wounded didn’t stop attacking, and his hell fire was too slow against so many coming so quickly. Josh retreated from Dew, unable to help further as he was pushed to the other side of the stairs. His arm singed and the inside of the scar popped as if being cooked on a grill.
This onslaught of smaller centipedes separated. The second group rushed to the shore and pushed between Josh and Darrell. With Vestor clinging to his back, he stepped backwards toward the shore. The centipedes flanked to attack from three sides. Darrell found himself standing with the water at his back. He swung his sword in a wide arc to drive the group back before attacking the smallest centipede at the front. His sword smacked the creature’s head only to stick against chitinous armor between the antennae. A step backwards and the sword slid across the divot it made. The salty water of the harbor lapped at his feet as he backed away further. Small fingers dug into his shoulders as Vestor hung on.
“Don’t open them up! I’m going to pass out!”
“What do I do then, give them a cookie?”
The centipedes clustered as they hissed from the shore. Another joined, followed by another, the crowd blocking them in the water grew larger by the moment. Three centipedes stood on their back legs and thrust their pincers. Steel swung against the head of the leftmost and sent it tumbling with a splash. It thrashed back to the shore with a hiss of protest against the salt.
The others pulled back, then hesitated at the water’s edge. Darrell lunged forward, then swung at their necks. The one furthest to the right entered the water. Darrell saw it coming and backed away until he was in knee-deep. It curled and flexed forward before the sword swung like a bat and knocked the creature back, but this one didn’t retreat. Darrell raised the sword and swung down for its head. A crunch issued as the sword crushed a compound eye.
The slight gash allowed salt water to enter the wound as the weapon pushed its head under. With a bubbling hiss it twisted away and returned to shore to groom its antennae. The wounded eye congealed as it hid behind the mass. Two more centipedes dove in. They wiggled above the surface of the harbor’s calm water. Vestor tensed as his knuckles dug into Darrell’s shoulders. Now they were in thigh high water, which Vestor’s shoes dipped into.
“How am I supposed to keep up without powers!” he yelled.
The sword smacked down to crunch a dent upon the fastest centipede’s head. It twirled backwards as salt water splashed onto the wound. Darrell swiped side to side but missed the other. Fangs lunged forward. Darrell dodged right and countered. His sword hit a juncture between segments. Violet liquid steamed with a noxious odor as it flowed into the harbor. The wounded centipede retreated to shore. Vestor felt the world spin and lost his grip as his tail limped into the harbor. More centipedes lurked by the cliffs. They crawled from the peaks and pulled themselves out of cracks in the stone. Darrell decided to run along the shore toward the Quagmire.
“You got my tail soaked.”
“You should hide in the storage compartments. I don’t think they’ll be able to get inside. The cabin has windows, so don’t hide there.”
Once he had a good distance and the ship loomed close, Darrell shifted his stance to face the oncoming centipedes. He remained in thigh-deep water with his sword raised. Vestor peered over his shoulders. From the canyon and over the stairs, much larger centipedes continued pouring over the cliffs. Had the others died already?
“What are you waiting for? You’re good at being a stowaway so stow yourself away! Hide until these things pass. I’ll buy you time.”
“Fine, I’ll hide.”
Vestor hopped off and waded to shore before breaking into a sprint towards the vessel. The weight lifted from his shoulder gave Darrell a slight relief so he shifted to shallower water. Two centipedes crawled along the sand, another three slid along the calm water. The two on the shore were as long as he was tall, the shortest were taller than Vestor. Darrell’s knees wobbled and his elbows shook as he raised his sword.
