Bound
The Veil keeps working his way up the legs of the Alpha, as he has done with the men before, peeling the skin and flesh from its leg.
The screams coming from the creature reach a new peak. There is still no sign of him easing his victim’s passing.
As it tries to roll over one last time, the beast throws blood and dust at the Veil: it changes nothing.
The Veil flicks his tail at the cut arm of the beast. Two or three strikes later, its flesh starts hissing as the toxin from his tail hits the blood.
The Veil stands back again and watches as the damage is done.
The beast rolls and scrapes its withering hand on the ground, trying in frantic desperation to get the poison off, but it only spreads further.
The Veil, totally indifferent to the refreshed horror of its victim, stays out of reach and sits to watch.
With acid burning both its hands, and blood pouring out of its wounds making a pool that softens the ground, it would soon be nothing but a cautionary tale to others of its species.
Fawn glances tentatively from her perch in the tree, wondering if the fading, howling sound means that the fight is over, or that there is a pause in the feeding. She can’t bring herself to look properly, the act was still too much for her to watch ever again.
The Veil places himself at the head of the Alpha, pausing to look at its eyes.
The beast has no strength left to stop him as he passes his claw through the skin at the base of its skull. The claw splits the skin like paper as he runs it up the back of the creature’s head.
Before it can do anything to stop him, the Veil cuts a ring around its head and begins to peel the skin up and off of it.
The gargled noises of protest get louder for a moment, reaching up to Fawn, forcing her to cover her eyes and ears, with her palms and fingers, waiting for it to stop. Even though this thing would have undoubtedly killed her, she couldn’t bring herself to enjoy the sound of its suffering.
The Veil simply pulled the skin off the Alpha’s head slowly and steadily like it was no more than peeling fruit.
Covering her eyes and ears was not enough to stop the horrid gurgling from being obvious, nor the foul, acrid smell of perishing blood from finding its way past her hands.
The smell took more from her than the sound. She gave up the hold on her head to grasp at her nose with both hands.
It will be over soon. It will be over soon ...
The thoughts circled her mind, round and round. The unlikely nature of the situation kept bringing her back to an idea: she had begun to think of herself as a long-term part of the Veil’s life.
Done with his torture of the Alpha, the Veil made a larger meal of the rest of its bones. A malodorous, harsh, crushing echo replaced the screams of his past victim.
Once satisfied, he turned his attention to the tree keeping Fawn safe and made his way back to the top.
He climbed slowly, with holes in his back and cracked torso bones. His tail injured and shoulder torn, the climb was hard and awkward for him, but there was no sign of any slip in his determination.
Fawn heard him coming back up the tree and felt herself mix her feelings of relief with fear, as she had yet to know what he was like so soon after a long-suffering meal.
As he crested the canopy, she saw the injuries he had sustained during the fight and her fear dropped away.
“Oh no. You’re hurt.”
She moved toward him quickly across the canopy net, reaching out.
“Clunk ... clunk ... clunk.”
The Veil drew away from her and warned her off.
“It’s ok. I’ll help.”
It was a nice gesture, but she had no idea how to make any difference.
As she approached, she felt his breath gain heft, he was breathing harder than usual. She made her way to his hands and arms, looking them over.
“Clunk ... clunk—”
He pulled away and warned her off a second time, prompting Fawn to scold him as a mother might a child.
“HEY! You checked me before and I was naked! You hold still.”
Feeling her determination and well meaning, the great animal sat still and released his arm to her. She took it and looked closely.
“What do I do here?”
The Veil turned his head toward her.
“Mmmrrrmmm.”
There was nothing he could tell her, but he seemed to value her attempt all the same.
“Umm, do you need bandage cloth?”
She started looking closely at the wounds on his hands and feet, while trying to figure out where else he was broken.
“Lie down.”
Her instruction had no effect. She sat for a moment and thought.
“Why do you listen sometimes and not others? There must be a reason. It’s not like you can understand me ... is it?”
She turned to look him in the eye.
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“Do I need to be louder? ... Lie Down!”
The Veil simply turned his head, looked at her and then turned away.
“So, it’s not that you can’t hear me.”
Fawn moved around, trying to figure out how to tell the great shadow before her to lie down so she could look at the wounds on his back. Sitting back down on the springy fiber, she looked at him doggedly.
“I really need you to lie down.”
The Veil tipped his head and lay down.
“That ... Why did? ... Oh, never mind.”
Puzzled, she got up and climbed onto his lower back, moving carefully so she could see the extent of the damage. As she clambered over his legs and up his hips, she could see the wounds were numerous and, in some cases, very deep.
“How do I help?”
She stood where there were no wounds, looking down, trying to figure out what it was that she could do to help. The wounds in some places were slowly closing by themselves, but others were bleeding his strange, silver blood and looked like they would be there for some time.
She climbed all over his back looking at the severity of each wound and doing what she could to stop the bleeding using the fiber sheets she had gathered while she was waiting.
The effect was enough that she at least felt as though she had done something helpful for him.
“I can’t do anything more, but ... but maybe it will help.”
She climbed down off his back and took his finger in her hand.
“I’m sorry you got hurt.”
“Mmmrrrmmmrrr.”
The Veil responded to the affectionate touch she granted him.
He curled his tail slowly to her back, keeping the barbed end away from her. In that motion she saw the wound in his tail. Collecting some more fiber, she wrapped the injury and stemmed the bleeding.
The pained movement of the Veil proved to Fawn that her champion was not invulnerable. That thought was strangely sobering. As soon as she had bound the wound, his tail moved back to coil around behind her.
“I think I’ll call that your version of a hug.”
She smiled a small, cautious smile, with a moment of understanding that she hadn’t experienced before.
For the first time in her life, she was the one in a position to help. She was the one who could change something: something big and powerful.
She felt the influence she had over the mighty creature, and it was more power than she had ever wielded. The energy started to take her over, and the idea of using him to get whatever she wanted became intoxicating.
Just at that moment the Veil stood and collected her with his hand.
“What? Oh, we’re leaving?”
It was a timely reminder that what she wanted was likely to come second to what he would see as necessary.
She curled herself around his hand as he lifted her onto his back. She had learned that he did nothing idly, and so was quite happy to take her place again.
This time she would occupy a slightly different location than before. He had retracted the collar blades in the middle of his neck but the furthest left and right ones stayed extended, providing footholds and lethal defense for his passenger.
Because the blades of his collar ran with their edges facing forward and backward, Fawn found that if she kept her feet between them with an outward pressure, the leverage kept her safe from the blades, and had the added benefit of making it far easier for her to stay in place.
Sitting astride her Warden, she felt as though there were no real threats anymore.
The worms had proven nothing more than an inconvenience to him, the huge white-gray beasts were spread in pieces on the ground. As they moved down the tree, she looked across into the face of the Alpha beast hanging from a smaller tree, a grizzly statement.
A totem to the force of the Veil ... her Veil.
They ran across the Plains faster this time. The sun was high enough to cause discomfort for the Veil: his dark color bringing in more heat than he was accustomed to. Approaching the passageway, she could see the slurry of remains that were once worms. There was still some movement evident within the cave.
As they got closer, she could see one of the worms moving around the cave, from wall to ceiling and back.
One of the little brown animals was moving around the opening to the tunnel. It appeared to be fossicking for roots around the cave entrance where there was some residual moisture. As it moved closer to the cave, she saw it lift its head for a moment: just a cursory glance upward. It did not look long enough. She watched as the movement in the cave rapidly became more distinct.
A streak of translucent silver comes from the cave wall. In a flash, the spear-like head of the worm has found its mark in the body of the small animal.
Drawing upon massive unseen force, the worm starts to suck out the unfortunate creature’s intestines.
The poor animal’s screeching takes over all other sounds as it is devoured slowly, and yet so absolutely. It struggles to escape its fate, but is losing blood, muscle, sinew and organs in a constant flow, as though a thread of everything that made it a living creature were being pulled through a small hole and eaten.
Fawn buries her face in her arm.
“Ek! That’s how they eat?! I hate those things!”
The worm continues, taking all it could from the frantic little animal as it writhes and perishes in a terrible way.
“Oh ... I really, REALLY hate those things. Gods! ... ”
She finds herself getting more horrified and aggravated with every breath.
“Can we kill it?!”
This time it isn’t about hoping for an answer, so much as an action.
“Please! ... How can I make you understand?”
She obsesses relentlessly, her desire for something to be done building intensity within. Finally, her thoughts and emotions become cohesive.
“KILL IT!”
A soft patch behind the Veil’s ears twitches, he immediately gathers himself, and leaps across the ground toward the worm.
Moving like a living shadow, he propels himself toward the still-eating worm. Closing the distance is a bit harder than usual as he struggles against the wounds in his back and shoulders.
Fawn leans into the movement, ducking her head as they streak across the ground.
The worm, still feeding, doesn’t perceive them coming as the miserable animal in its grasp squeals. As they close in toward the worm, it finally flicks its head in their direction.
“Die!”
The Veil jumps in the air, quickly covering the remaining distance between them.
The worm reacts with a flurry of movement from its body to create a wave that travels up to its head. The force throws its head high in the air and brings the rest of its body out of the cave. A long, curved stinger protrudes from its tail and flies at the pair with incredible speed and force.
The Veil shifts his weight and moves from the path of the strike. The stinger lands like a projectile in a nearby tree, shattering its trunk to splinters.
“Oof!”
Fawn feels the impact in her body as it dawns on her that she is the reason they have started this fight. She has put her champion in danger, and suddenly truly understands its implications with withering concern. Her fear ... is quickly proven groundless.
Moving itself out of the path of the attack, the Veil, furious at the worm's attempt, flips himself and cuts the tail section from the worm with one strike. It falls away, gushing blood and entrails everywhere.
He then leaps for the front section of the worm cutting it to ribbons as he travels up its whole length. As the pieces drop away, Fawn sees the remnants of the little animal it ate falling alongside the shredded worm pieces.
Her words crack from her mouth, as if spoken with a sharpened tongue.
“Gods! ... One day I will learn to kill these MYSELF!”
Awful slinking ... wormy ... Slinkworms! That’s their name from now on. I hate them more than the Cast.
The idea that she had found something that was innately more horrid than the ruthless and contemptible Cast was something that she had never imagined possible.
The Veil moved to the side of the cave entrance, panting as he did so. Clearly the fight had taken an unusual toll. He sat next to the small plants that the little, brown animal had been eating.
Looking down at the scattered body parts of the worm’s victim, Fawn felt a pang of sadness for their attack on the ‘Slinkworm’ having come too late to save the little thing from such an awful death.
I need to call these something too ... It’s like a dusty plant nibbling thing ...
Fawn almost jumped to her feet.
“Dusty Snuffles!”
Smiling to herself, she eased back again.
“That’s what I’ll call them. Dusty Snuffles and Slinkworms.”
She felt a sense of pride having dubbed two new animals with their names.
“I have no idea what to call the big white-gray things you killed though.”
She looked down at the resting Veil.
“I’m sure you have a name for them. If only you could tell me.”
Reaching forward, she stroked her hand across the armored scales that had retracted their blades from his neck for her.
They both sat in silence for a moment. Then the Veil rose and moved them inside the cave. As they passed into the dark of the cave, the Veil eased.
“You really don’t like the light, do you?”
Fawn watched as his eyes returned to their normal state.
They began to travel back along the passageway. Fawn almost felt at home in the dark, stone space, although the concern of Slinkworms remained on her mind.
The noise from her starving stomach echoed through the cave.