Between them, they rolled all the eggs which showed no sign of internal movement out of the side chamber and down the tunnel towards the main tree trunk.
The remaining four eggs which were twitching as if they were going to open at any moment, were added to the end of the line in the tunnel, and all concerned stood back to survey their handiwork.
‘Well, it looks nice and neat.’ commented Mec, ‘Now we have to destroy them, and carefully. If any of the eggs look as if they have a nearly mature creature inside them, you will have to kill it, otherwise just crack the eggs open and let the contents run out.’
They looked at one another to see who was going to begin the slaughter, and as there were no volunteers for the job they drew lots for the unpleasant task. Kel got the short twig, and picking up one of the bladed staves, made his way carefully along to the furthest egg in the tunnel, and drove the sharp blade into it.
There was a soft plopping sound as the thin leathery skin split open and a mixture of red fluid and brown lumps of something a little more solid spilled out onto the tunnel floor. Kel jumped back in surprise, tripped over the end of his stave and came crashing down between the next two eggs in the line.
The speed with which he regained his feet surprised them all, and he stood there shaking for a while before slashing the next egg, this time standing well back as the turgid contents surged out.
All went well, until the last egg in the line before the four which looked as if they were going to spew forth their living monsters.
As Kel drove in the stave, the egg almost exploded as the addled contents propelled themselves out in a fountain of foulness. The stench was overpowering, and they all fled to the main chamber to get some fresh air, which by the time they got there, falling over each other in the process, wasn’t as fresh as they would have wished.
‘Someone else can finish off the last four.’ said Kel, his eyes streaming tears from exposure to the pungent reek of the rotten egg.
‘All right, Moss and I will destroy the last ones. Moss, you slash the egg open, and I’ll use the knife to finish off whatever we find inside it.’
There was no great rush to complete the job, but they were spurred on in their endeavours by the increasing stench which Kel had released upon them.
Moss split open the first of the wriggling eggs, and as he did so, the ugly head of a miniature version of the creature they had disposed of earlier reared up from the torn casing, complete with a vicious set of teeth, and looking for something to set them in.
Mec jumped forward and with one swing of the long blade, severed the head of the hideous creature from the body which was struggling to enter their world.
As Moss lifted the stave to make the opening incision in the last egg, it egg split open of it’s own accord and a snapping head took the end of his stave off, leaving him with the shortened stump which he instinctively thrust into the gaping jaws and then jumped back, all in one fluid motion, knocking Mec flying in his efforts to reach safety.
By the time Mec had scrambled to his feet and joined the now shaking Moss, the creature had released itself from the confines of the egg case and was writhing about on the floor of the tunnel, trying to make sense of its new surroundings and bite anything within range.
Mec ran forward, grabbing a bladed stave from Kel as he passed, and began taunting the creature with it. At just the right moment when the tooth-laden head was about to strike, Mec thrust the stave into its mouth and then put all his weight behind the next thrust, driving the sharp end straight through the back of the creatures neck and pinning it to the wall of the tunnel, the claw tipped arms desperately trying to reach its tormentor.
‘Pass my long knife!’ Mec called, a touch of panic in his voice. ‘Quickly!’
It took two swings of the razor sharp knife to sever the gyrating head from its body, which lay snapping its teeth on the floor of the passage.
‘There’s nothing more to do here now,’ Mec gasped, trying to get his breath back, ‘I’ll come down here again tomorrow when the smell has gone to see if there are any more egg piles, but I don’t think there will be.’
‘I wonder if these creatures have a mate as we do?’ asked Kel, but before he could get an answer, Mec was already making a fast and undignified exit from the chamber, climbing hand over hand up the vine as fast as he could, followed by the others as the import of Kel’s question went home.
Having retreated to the safety of the open trackway and snatched a few lungs full of fresh air, the troop relaxed a little, exchanging nervous giggles and comments on the operation they had just completed.
‘That’s something I wouldn’t like to have to do every day.’ Kel said, wiping their weapons on a convenient patch of moss at the side of the path.
‘But it looks as if we shall have to get used to doing it a few more times before we can be sure we are free of these creatures.’
‘That won’t be your problem, it’s now up to the rest of the groups to defend themselves, you two have a much more important task ahead.’ Mec made it a statement rather than a comment by his tone of voice.
‘Do you really think the others will be able to do what we have just done?’ asked Moss.
‘They’ll have to, if they want to survive.’ Mec turned to the two supernumeraries,
‘How
