The monster hurtled toward them, and all Uzca could see were hundreds of mouths with snapping teeth. It moved toward the boat captain first, and he reacted in time to swing at it with a sword.

The blade cleanly severed one of the monster's vines, but a dozen more shot forward. To Uzca's horror, they latched onto the man's skin and pulled back with a jerk, tearing his flesh with ease. The man screamed.

"No!" Thad yelled, and his hand flashed with power before a wind wall pushed the creature away from the captain.

It rolled away, letting the wind push it, and the captain collapsed.

Uzca didn't have time to check on the man because the monster was already spinning around. Wherever it moved, it tore through the undergrowth, and the area once filled with dense growth was now becoming a wide-open clearing between the trees.

"Bez, stay back! See if you can help the captain!" Uzca yelled. His cousin would be absolutely shredded by the monster, and he still might be able to support at range with his gift.

"Uzca!" Thad said, but Uzca was already watching the monster change directions, heading straight at him.

He ground his teeth and charged at it. He had to consider how he used his gift. Protecting his entire body would guarantee safety, but he would almost certainly run out of strength before the fight ended, leaving him vulnerable. Like he had done with the flies in the swamp, he focused on his gift and the attacking appendages. As each one struck, he tried to shift his skin.

He quickly learned that while turning a patch of skin anywhere on his body big enough to protect against a fly's bite was simple, and he could do it all day, turning a patch of skin large enough to stop the razor mouths of the plant monster was almost impossible.

The creature was more hesitant, either because it hadn't expected the captain to hurt it or because of Uzca's bold charge. He cut down two vines before the third strike from the monster was faster than his ability to defend himself. He roared in fury and agony as the monster tore a chunk of meat from his left shoulder.

"Uzca!" Bezben yelled, and Uzca jumped back.

Three white spears of light plunged into the monster, and it was its turn to howl. It rolled away, some liquid spurting from one of the wounds struck by Bezben.

Uzca put pressure on his shoulder and found he couldn't move his left arm properly. He'd have to fight without it and hope Thad could do something later.

Thad's wind armor finally spun up around him, and he pulled the fallen captain's sword into his hand. He lunged at the creature and hacked at vines, cutting through them by the dozen, but there were hundreds.

As the mouths snapped in to strike him, his wind armor blew them out of the way. As the monster turned to retreat, Thad cast an arm out and extended his wind power to pull it back in.

"That's how you do it!" Bezben yelled. He conjured three more spears. "Hold it still for a sec!"

Thad obliged, and Bezben struck. Something inside the monster ripped off, and all the remaining mouths howled once more.

It twisted violently to escape Thad, and the mage's armor faltered just long enough for it to break free from the swirling winds.

It retreated a few dozen yards, and Uzca thought for a moment it would run.

Then it began to change.

Vines wove together and around, and new growth sprouted from the center of the plant mass. After a few moments, they were facing down a twelve-foot-tall humanoid mass of woven vines. Massive thorns protruded from the vines, and the fingers of the plant beast ended in razor claws made from the teeth that had once been in its many mouths.

"Why is it always giant, horrifying monsters? My dad told me about one time he fought a bear. That was it! Just a big bear! His best story!" Bezben said.

"I don't know what this is," Thad said. "But I think it's a little scarier than a bear."

"No shit."

"Guys, plan? My left arm is wrecked, but I can probably defend myself now that it doesn't have hundreds of things to attack with."

"How are you on mana? Or strength, or however you measure your gifts?"

"Good, barely used it," Uzca said.

"I'm at around half strength, maybe nine more spears. I can squeeze a few more out in a pinch, but I'll have a headache for a week."

"That's better than dead. Do what you can. Uzca, you take point. Focus on keeping its attention. I have some fire magic, but it's not my strong suit, so it will take me a minute to prepare the spell."

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"Hold on for a minute? I might be able to do that."

The monster was done with its transformation and started loping forward, massive legs carrying it forward in a blur.

"Bez, go!"

Bezben launched a rain of spears, putting as much power into one attack as he could muster. Two of the spears missed, but three found their marks. It slowed the creature enough for the Uzca to engage without being bowled over. Bezben doubled over with the effort, and Thad began crafting his magic.

Uzca wasn't exactly wrong about being able to defend himself. The plant creature was now only attacking with two arms, and he could defend well enough against those, but the thorns that covered its body occasionally burst, showering him with a liquid that burned his skin. Within moments, he was in agony, but the most significant blows were stopped with metal skin and blows from his fists.

He'd ditched the sword. He wasn't trying to damage the creature. Unlike the swamp hag, it didn't seem to have a clear weak point. Potentially, there was something in its core he could smash to a pulp, but in order to hit that, he would have to intentionally break apart more thorns. Unless he was willing to wager the rest of the fight on it and transform himself entirely metal, he wouldn't be able to try for it. It was a last resort.

The one thing that Uzca did have going for him was that the monster was clearly enraged with him and entirely focused on his destruction. It hissed from its singular mouth and tried to bury its razor claws in his gut repeatedly. Perhaps it knew this was how to fight off dangerous animals like him. The repetition made it easier for him to channel his gift. He led the monster around the clearing, well away from Thad and Bezben. He'd call to his cousin when he needed a moment to make space, and Bezben would oblige with a well-placed spear. His control and aim had been growing by leaps and bounds since they started focused training on it, but Bezben's stamina was limited.

"Bring it back!" Thad called, nearly done with his spell. Uzca changed direction, daring a dash back toward the others. That was a mistake. As soon as his back was turned, the creature launched a cascade of thorns at him. They buried themselves in his back and began to pump the burning fluid directly into his skin. The only thing that saved him was shifting his back. The change made the thorns push themselves out by their own pumping motion. His back was still a sheet of sheer agony, and he didn't dare let go of his gift for fear of what the poison, or acid, or whatever it was might do to him.

While Uzca forced himself to turn back to the monster and stay on his feet, Thad began his assault.

A fiery whip manifested in the mage's hand. Thad's hair was matted in sweat, and his skin was pale. He used the flaming whip inexpertly, but it began to burn vines any time it touched the monster. Whatever was in the thorns was exceptionally flammable. It tried to rush Thad, and Bezben slowed it with a final spear. It was enough.

With a snarl, Thad whipped his flaming rope around the beast, catching its apparent head in the loop, then pulled it tight.

The creature stamped around the jungle floor, screaming and trying to pull the fiery cord away. Every time it grabbed the rope around its neck, its hands burned away, and it grew more to try again. Every time, it became smaller, and the amount of plant matter it had diminished.

In the end, there was a simple torso of blackened flesh and no plant remaining.

Thad let his spell drop and sat unceremoniously.

Uzca's back stopped burning quite so much, but it didn't matter as his gift gave out a moment later. The burning refreshed as his skin returned to normal, but it was just from the residual fluid.

"Bez," he croaked at his cousin, who was doubled over and holding his head. "Is the captain?"

Uzca hadn't dared glance at the man, but he did when Bezben shook his head. The man had been ravaged by the initial assault. Chunks had been ripped out of his arms and neck, with one particularly gruesome gash letting Uzca see the man's teeth. He stared sightlessly up into the sky, his face still seemingly taught in a terrified expression.

Uzca hadn't even known his name.

He knelt next to the man and closed his eyes.

"I pray to the gods for your safe passage into the world beyond, and I thank you for your sacrifice."

It could have easily been him, or Thad, or Bezben lying on the ground. If he hadn't heard the creature, it probably would have been all of them.

Bezben knelt next to Uzca and put a hand on his cousin's shoulder, head bowed in respect. Tears rolled down his nose and dripped onto the leaves that covered the jungle floor.

Thad came over and kneeled opposite them.

"I didn't even ask his name..."

The cousins just shook their heads.

"What should we do?" Thad asked. "We can't just leave him here, can we?"

"No," Uzca said firmly. Funeral rites were sacred in the mountains, but he didn't know what this man would want. "We have a couple options, I guess. We can bury him or take him home."

"He said the river's current would slow in a day or two, but do any of us know how to get that boat upstream? We might just end up crashing it halfway back," Bezben said.

"I've never used a boat with a propulsion stone before. Going upriver, I assume there's some trick. I think Bezben is right in that we would likely not make it all the way back."

"Then we bury him. He was a man of the sea. Of rivers, at least. He looks like he was born to the water. Sea burial?"

They had many lakes in the mountains, and it was not uncommon to bury people "at sea" on one of the lakes.

"How does that work?" Thad asked.

"We build a pyre, take him out, light it, and pay our respects. We pray to the gods for safe passage into the world beyond."

Without any better ideas, they agreed.

"Let's get out of this jungle, then."

Together, they built a stretcher. Uzca sacrificed his ripped and shredded shirt for extra cloth to bind it together. They ignored the corpse of the monster they had killed, other than to make sure it was well and truly dead. Once that was confirmed, they loaded the captain onto their makeshift stretcher and carried him back through the jungle.

Hours later, the sun set as they finished crafting the pyre and loaded it onto the boat. Using the same technique the man had shown them earlier in the day, they pushed the boat back into shallow water.

Thad figured out how to use the propulsion stone well enough to get them out to sea. They were fortunate that no storm was blowing in, and the sea was relatively calm.

With reverence, they lowered the pyre into the water. Thad cast a spell and lit the pyre as it drifted away.

They stood together on the deck, watching the burning pyre drift away. They said their own silent prayers and goodbyes as it slowly drifted into the distance. They watched until it had either gone beyond their sight or broken apart, finally laying the captain to rest.