The water crawling centipedes attacked together at once. One jumped to lunge fangs at Darrell’s neck. Another rose from the left, while a third attacked his thigh from the right. He dodged backwards so awkwardly that he almost fell backwards. Instead, soaked sneaker found purchase on a small rock.

Sword swooshed upwards before the blade slammed against a flat red carapace. Hisssssss. Pincers clashed in protest. The three attackers resumed their formation quickly and attacked with the same pattern to force his retreat, yet more carefully. His blade glinted in their compound eyes. But they kept him moving ever backwards while two large centipedes prevented him from returning to shore. They didn’t enter the water themselves. Instead, the two big boys stayed tall while side walking as Darrell retreated.

Meanwhile, the three skittered atop the water’s surface as if on tile. They adjusted their attack pattern. One kept his attention from the front. It launched a feint. When Darrell swung, the two on the flanks moved in to force another run backwards. The cliffs approached. In a natural harbor enclosed by high cliffs he couldn’t use space for time forever.

Did these insects know this? The launched a triple attack, instead of countering and risking getting bit, he ran parallel with where the Quagmire tilted in the sand. He tried to use the boat as a chance to get back to shore, but the big centipedes scurried faster and blocked his return. Their hisses mocked him, but they didn’t enter the water. Perhaps the smaller ones were more suited for swimming.

A series of swings scuffed the armor of the small centipedes. He escaped their flanks with a pivot to the left. While dodging the attack from the right, his sword pierced the largest four segments down from the head. It hissed at a slight flow of toxic liquid over its armor. The sword slid out of the monster. A glance confirmed that the two monstrously long centipedes dared not enter the water. He swung sideways. The swing decapitated another centipede to the right as it extended its body in an attempt to bite Darrell’s stomach. The head splashed. An acrid steam sizzled from calm water.

Vestor peered from the emptied hold to see Darrell’s fight. But then the huge centipedes crawled across the wood with a clattering of legs. He fell back inside the hold and let the lid slam shut. Hands went to his face to rub tears out of his eyes. Tail brushed against something rough. It was a jug, a gigantic jug almost as big as he was. A half rotten cork sealed the neck of the jug, but a rusty corkscrew rested on nails in the wood nearby. While keen ears caught the clashing of steel against chitin, frantic hissing, and heavy breathing from outside, Vestor twirled the corkscrew into the old cork. The seal couldn’t be that strong. Nghhh! One more time!

Nghhhhhhhhhhh!

 POP!

A strong scent, an acrid scent of vinegar smacked his curling nose. Vestor fell backwards and rolled while covering his face. His mom used this stuff to keep pests out of their home. Whenever she used it, he couldn’t even sleep for the repulsive smell. He wanted to faint. And pickled food, so disgusting, blechhh! Then he opened his eyes wide, forced himself up, grabbed the bottle by the neck, and tried to lift it. It didn’t budge. He scrounged the hold for an empty canteen, a cup, anything. Nothing to be found. Vestor bristled, he took a deep breath through his nose. Then he gagged.

His head bumped the panel as he crawled out and checked the cabin. Curtains, nah, too thick and they’d take forever to pull down. The dresser! Nadia’s shirt from earlier rested over the wood, mostly dried. He clutched it, pulled it from the dresser while grabbing two socks from the floor.

Back in the hold, he carefully tilted the bottle to soak the clothes without wasting too much. Then he struggled to get the bottle upright. A good portion spilled over his clothes. It made him hack like coughing up a hairball, but he needed to carry those vinegar-soaked garments without dripping too much for his plan to work. He hugged the clothes against his chest and hung the soaking socks over his shoulders. The strong odor of undiluted vinegar bashed in through the gates of his sinuses and pounded inside his skull. Teeth clenched as fangs pressed his lower lip.

“This is nothing!”

With hands full vinegar-soaked clothes, he headbutt the panel to open the hold. The fresh air helped a little bit. He jumped from the deck toward the sound of battle. Darrell was still being pushed back toward the cliff. The two on the water kept attacking from both sides, only to pull back when Darrell swung. A headless centipede writhed along the shore just below the deck. Vestor slapped the creature with a sock. Strong undiluted vinegar splattered over chitin joints. Legs moved like little pistons. It scurried aimlessly, fell on its back, curled tightly, opened, then desperately pounced against the Quagmire in the opposite direction.

Vestor ignored it and ran toward the monsters patiently keeping Darrell away from the shore, “Take that, and that!”

Splat! A rolled-up sock unfurled to cling against the armor as it struck the largest on the back. Splat! The second landed high on the other centipedes upraised body. It struck with such force that it unfurled around the creatures’ joints. The fabric caught between the spindly legs. They hissed wildly before striking each other head-to-head, biting. Legs intertwined as they collapsed into a hissing centipede ball.

One vinegar-soaked sock fell on the sands as the offended creature slithered to get away while pulling at each other. The other sock clung around its victim like a collar. The fabric poked through a leg. The leg that ripped off the body and dangled as the centipede charged in circles to bite the others backside. But the beasts unfurled, only to retreat back towards the cliffs.

Darrell took notice. A good swing decapitated the second of the smaller beasts. The sword lowered as Darrel took heavy breaths after his attack. A headless collection of limbs twirled as it danced over the water. The remaining beast lunged. A spindly leg sliced his forehead as Darrell dodged toward the shore. He parried the beast as he backed toward Vestor. Sweat dripped from his hair. A slight red danced down his cheek from the cut on his forehead. The centipede lunged for Darrell again.

This time, Vestor jumped from the side and slapped down a heavy vinegar-soaked shirt over the creature’s antennae. Pincers ripped through the fabric. They caught the shirt that Vestor refused to let go of. The centipede scurried in circles around Darrell while dragging Vestor behind it.

The sword raised; Darrell lowered the blade in preparation to attack directly downward in a single timed thrust. Shhhick! The sword lowered like a guillotine into the creature. It writhed, hissed, tried to push its body off the sword. It raised itself nearly to the hilt. Darrell jumped on it. Viscous violet gunk squirted out the sides. The beast curled, hissing in its death throes as Vestor pulled to recover Nadia’s vinegar-soaked shirt. Darrell backed away dizzily from the mix of toxic stench and vinegar.

The canyons swirled over top of him as he looked up, but he didn’t see any centipedes crawling down this side of the canyon. He didn’t dare pull his sword out of the beast, as it even yet showed signs of life. It twirled against the blade. Vestor’s tail held firm in the air, the white fur at the tip more visible in the sinking moonlight as he fought to get the shirt back. It was getting far too dark. Knees sunk into the sand as Darrell caught his breath. His palms pressed into his soaked jeans while red laced sweat dripped over his shirt.

“Kid, you just … saved … my life … thank you.”

“You’re very welcome!” Vestor groaned while attempting to extract the shirt from the dying centipede tightening around it.

“What spell did … you use?”

“It’s not a spell; I don’t have my transformation yet. It’s the absolute meanest thing in the world, so mean even these giant bugs hate it! And my mom makes me eat this stuff!”

Vestor’s lips trembled as pressed them together while holding his nose in the in the air. His cheeks burned bright red as his ears laid flat over his hair. The fur on the back of his ears stood on end. Darrell gasped.

“You poisoned yourself! Get in the water, rinse it off right now. Wait, eat?”

“It’s vinegar! I don’t think it’ll kill me. Maybe it’ll kill me. Ughhhhhhhh! My nose burns!”

Darrell got to his feet, grabbed the light green shirt by the collar, and ripped it from the curling beast. Nothing further came for them, which was good. The moon disappeared and left only the stars for light. He peered further down the shore and could see Josh casting fireballs. The light of the fires made the battle visible. Plumes of purple and gray smoke rose from corpses around him. Darrell took the torn shirt and wrapped it over his shoulder like a cape.

“Is that all of it?”

“There’s a huge jug of the stuff in the hold. Only one though. I just opened it and I barely used half.”

“Let’s grab it. Maybe we can help the others after all. Let's hope they can hold out for us, okay. We're going to grab that vinegar and all the laundry we cand carry.”

Vestor smiled brightly, eyes wide despite suppressing a gag reflex, “Yeah!”

As they pulled the heavy jug from hold, the first rays of morning light peaked from the narrow opening in the cliffs that led to the ocean.