“Oh shit,” Goron said. He stood there with no idea what to do next. His only means to hurt the monster had vanished.
A pink tear with the consistency of a squashed strawberry fell from the charybdis’s eye. It blinked.
When the giant orb appeared again it was no longer moon white but crimson red. The charybdis let out a howl that made the ground tremble, and a shower of stone and dust rained down from the cavern’s ceiling. Tentacles lashed the air around Goron.
It had worked. By blinding the charybdis, he had given himself a chance to rescue Morwen.
He ducked a tentacle swung with enough force to break every rib in his body. He jumped another that would have left him a cripple.
“Get up,” he urged Morwen nudging her. She remained motionless, her skin pale and her lips blue. She needed the water squeezed out of her but he couldn’t do it there. Any moment they could both be squashed.
His eyes darted around the cavern looking for an escape or a haven. There was a cave fifty feet away.
He threw Morwen over his shoulder, surprised at how light she was.
Despite Goron’s weariness he moved quickly ducking and weaving the whirling tentacles. Only a leap away from the cave, he was flung to the ground as a tentacle thumped into his back.
Morwen broke Goron’s fall. Her ribs cracked under his weight and a jet of water gushed from her mouth. She groaned, her eyes flicked open before rolling back into her head.
Goron slung Morwen roughly over his shoulder again, extracting another groan, and staggered into the cave.
He laid her down carefully and slumped onto the rock-strewn ground beside her. The walls of the cave were lined with the same fluorescent mushrooms which cast their eerie light throughout the cavity. Exploring the cave would have to wait. Morwen was breathing again, but she’d slipped back into unconsciousness. He didn’t know what he could do for her, perhaps she needed only to rest. They both did.
Morwen’s persistent cough woke Goron. The charybdis’s raging was over. He could see its vast bulk motionless in the cavern beyond. Worried for Morwen, he put a hand to her forehead and found her burning hot.
“She’s going to die.”
Goron started at the voice. His expression changed from surprise to astonishment when he noticed it was Szat.
“She’s got pneumonia. I saw it many times when Morwen worked in the infirmary. You drown from the inside. It’s a horrible way to go,” Szat continued, then noticing Goron’s gaping mouth he added, “I’m a good swimmer, and I can hold my breath for an exceptionally long time. My record’s a week.” Impressed with his own achievement the demon’s mouth stretched in a toothy grin.
Goron was impressed. He’d once managed to win a bet that he could make love for two hours whilst doing a headstand. Admittedly the poor girl was confused about what was going on. He shook his head, now was not the time to be boasting of such things. “How can we help her?”
Szat plucked a mushroom off the side of the wall and nibbled the edge. His face scrunched up at the taste, and he spat it out. “We can’t,” he said and licked his armpit to get rid of the taste of the fungus. “But she can buy a miracle if she’s willing to pay the blood price.”
“Just like one of her curses?” Goron couldn’t imagine the demon’s armpit tasted any better than the mushroom.
“Exactly.” The demon stroked an imaginary beard. “Do you realize if curse makers die, their curses cease to exist.” The demon seemed to delight in divulging this news. His face stretched into that sinister grin. “I just wanted to throw that out there for your consideration.”
Two days ago, before Goron’s encounter with the forest goddess, he would have left Morwen to die down there and probably whispered, ‘It serves you right,’ in her ear. But now he was starting to realise there was more to life than sex with beautiful women—he just wasn’t sure what. “Morwen,” he said shaking her.
She opened her gummy eyes and stared uncomprehendingly at the face swimming before her.
“It’s me, Goron.” He tried a smile, but it felt ludicrous on his face and wilted before it bloomed. “You need to ask your night mother to heal you, or you are going to die.”
“I’m so tired.” Her eyes closed, and she drew in a ragged breath.
“Szat is here. He can help.”
Morwen snorted, “That bastard.”
“You don’t want to give up now we’re so close. Imagine returning to Wichsault a heroine, the castle could be yours, and you’d be so popular you could be justiciar,” Goron said.
Morwen opened her eyes again.
“I can draw the signs and bite off your finger.” The demon’s eyes glittered at the thought.
“Do it.” Morwen weakly lifted an arm to Szat. The demon licked his lips.
“Will one of mine work?” Goron asked. The thought of Morwen losing a finger in her weakened state didn’t sit well with him.
“The night mother is not fussy,” Szat said. He lunged at Goron’s hand. Goron yanked it away leaving Szat’s teeth to snap at the air.
“No, take my toe,” Goron yelled taking off his boot.
Szat scowled at the smelly foot. Goron wiggled his hairy pinkie toe. “Take the little one, I don’t need it.”
Szat’s face screwed up in disgust.
“Do it, I need my fingers for fighting.” Morwen’s body convulsed in a coughing fit. “Come on, we have to hurry,” Goron growled. He turned his head away and gritted his teeth. There was a sharp pain and when he opened his eyes, his toe had disappeared.
“Foul,” Szat said and spat the bloody toe onto the ground. “Anwen’s toe was much nicer.”
“The runes,” Morwen rasped.
“Right.” Szat grabbed a stone and started scratching spidery runes on the ground around the toe. “There, you just need to mutter the spell now.”
Morwen sputtered out the words, “Kaexo kl’t grotl aerb aerb larau dv v’tl. dho tioov kluvd no houravk dal vhud hildk noaerb vae’r.” A shadow, vaguely
