Mystery Lake
[50] Rip and Tear
Roxy didn't want to know what beastly monster the princess summoned a second time. It was enough to know that the last time they had to escape from the area and the trucker fled just as quickly.
Their attacker braced himself and aimed his weapon at little girl Alyssa, who was looking around her side. She wanted to scream or yell or make some noticeable ruckus, though it was so early, and the washed-out weather seemed to capture noises and keep them from traveling far. She suspected that this nature to the weather was intentional and probably manipulated by the forces that wanted them dead. They also wanted the princess to stay dead for reasons that Roxy could only imagine but probably involved fairy politics and coups.
The brief respite from the red-capped goblin creature's assault ended when he turned his attention away from scanning the air and to bring his weapon around for another swing. Roxy regarded where the bathrooms were and tried to put one of the entrance walls between them, but the monster restrained its strike. Trembling and holding her breath, Alyssa focused and summoned a renewed blast of her black spew. The monster was far enough away to avoid it, and the expulsion landed on the sidewalk in front of them before sublimating to nothing. Alyssa wobbled afterward, but nothing further changed about her. Roxy didn't want her to get even younger if her last round and the age reduction were at all related.
They'd done their best to delay the assassin and buy time for whatever the princess had summoned to arrive. The last time came with a warning to stay out of its way. The princess didn't make it clear if they were supposed to do that again. She didn't shout anything in particular, but perhaps that was because of the current, dire situation. Sharing that thought internally didn't trigger any elaboration, so she assumed she was on the right track.
Dodging helped, but it also kept pushing her into a bad corner where protection wouldn't last long. Roxy was still achy, and she didn't trust that her slightly sexed-out legs wouldn't tumble out from under her, leaving them both sprawled out and defenseless. It was surreal to have Alyssa clinging to her for nervous protection. She'd also called her "mom" when she'd given the warning. Roxy had to assume that she didn't really mean it on any deep level. Considering the hints Alyssa had given about her poor family situation, there was a possibility that she was already a better mother than the one the girl had by birth. Not important for the moment, but she would keep an eye on whether Alyssa had been mentally manipulated.
If only something more durable and protective than Alyssa's meager jacket with her, then she could've used that to block the threatened strikes from the bastard's pike. Nothing in the vicinity came close to being a defense-worthy armament. They just kept backing up with care and caution as the creature pursued them relentlessly. This was going to give out, whether by space or patience. One of them would make a mistake. Roxy staggered with her footing but stayed upright.
Then it came—an unexpected dip in the cement. She slid backward on her knees, with Alyssa squeezing close and struggling to remain on her feet. The creature swooped towards them, but a wash of wind blasted him right in the face. He raised a gnarled hand, and a jagged talon sliced across his knuckles. Another clawed at his eyes, and he screamed.
A hand went up to his face to keep the strike from digging deeper. He stumbled blindly, with the pike sweeping through the air but hitting nothing. It bounced off a nearby trash can and tore through it like simple aluminum foil. He wiped madly at his face, trying to clear his vision. Roxy had barely seen what attacked him, as if the edge of a bird had broached the heavens for an instant before vanishing. So the summoned monster was some kind of bird. She knew fairies could fly, but no bird-like folklore creature occurred to her. Not that it mattered, as long as it was on their side and fighting off the bad guy. And that bad guy recovered, his wounds still there but not affecting his sight or his determination to strike against them.
She struggled to get to her feet. Of course, her leg gave way, and she tumbled back onto the chilly pavement. Little girl Alyssa attempted to drag her by the shoulders, but she simply didn't have the strength. Whimpering softly, she pressed her head against Roxy's shoulder. A swing of the weapon's large blade practically sounded like a whip. Roxy had no idea what to do. They couldn't just give up. Just as it seemed the blade was about to slice through them like they were nothing more than bits of tissue paper, a creature landed on the monster's raised arm and slammed it to the ground. Roxy was finally able to get a good look at it.
Seeing it didn't really help with figuring out what the hell it was. It looked like an umbrella turned upside down or a bulky stretched-out lamp. The creature possessed a single eye in the center of its grotesque, stubby, horned head. Its singular leg had multiple powerful claws that were digging deep into their assailant's wrist, stripping away flesh with screaming red marks. A second set of sharp talons dragged and stretched, with one arm protruding out from the center of its chest. And there was something else.
For a moment, she nearly corrected herself to parse that it had a second leg that was floppy, less developed, and narrower than the first, like a rudimentary kickstand on a bicycle, or rather a unicycle. But then she paid careful attention to the shape—the long, tubular aspects of what it had. Alyssa's little gasp informed her that she had figured it out as well.
There was a conspicuous slit on the tip of this 'kickstand'. A one-eyed monster. Frighteningly appropriate. And it made sense why the princess would summon it to go after the trucker fucker. She also had new worries about what would happen if they stayed around. It got even weirder after that, as a swarm of black tentacles erupted from the creature's back and wriggled over the fallen, pike-wielding monster. Each tentacle landed in a different spot, ripping off circular pieces of flesh with razor-sharp barbs on the edges. Their attacker howled in agony and slashed at the monster violently.
Alyssa looked like she was on the verge of throwing up in the usual way. Roxy held the little girl close and tried to retreat carefully without drawing the attention of either of the combatants. The squishing and tearing sounds, along with rancid smells, were getting to her as well. It was remarkable that no one ventured in their direction, or perhaps it was an intentional occurrence by the forces that wanted to snuff them out.
They could run. Roxy didn't know if she had the strength to haul the kid with her slipping, oversized clothes and not take a disastrous tumble. Moving around without trying to make it obvious seemed like the best strategy of the moment, sneaking away while they were preoccupied with battling each other.
Their nervous escape attempt actually distracted the goblin with the pike, and he made a motion to swing around and catch them off guard, but that provided an opening for the winged creature to surround it with its suckers, bring its... very long part around, and begin slapping its opponent several times in the head.
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The beating by gigantic dick should have had an air of the ridiculous and perverse. But it soon crushed the creature's skull, leaving it in a heap on the ground, dribbling and gushing. After that, the pike rolled away, and the cap wasn't the only part of it thoroughly saturated in red. The claws soon dug in and didn't leave much of their victim. No matter what she thought about the trucker, she hoped that this wasn't the same result as sending whatever this was after him.
They put some distance between themselves and the battered remains before the beast looked up and blinked curiously at Roxy. She had no idea what to do, and the princess was being painfully silent on this point. Roxy tried to share a smile, and the fluttering beast blasted a wave of air and lightly hopped right in front of them. Up close, it looked more like a broken dinosaur than a birdlike creature.
A weird cooing sound came from its faint flap of a mouth. The rough and lightly spiky head gently leaned towards her. Not knowing what else to do, she hesitantly reached out a hand and touched the top of it. Light, contented noises fluttered upwards as it leaned into her touch. Despite how rough and terrifying it looked, where she touched it actually had a surprisingly velvety texture.
Its singular eye gradually closed as it tucked the long and drooping part behind it and wiggled playfully. Even though she had a huge amount of examples to draw from, she still knew that this probably had to be one of the strangest things she'd ever done, and she hoped it would remain the peak.
Alyssa kept herself sheltered behind her, but the creature noticed and edged over like a strange, distorted eagle. Several of its tentacles shifted, and Roxy braced herself. But the creature didn't use the dangerous tips, instead sliding up several edges against the little girl's shoulder and caressing her face. It used one on Roxy, and her best analogy for the feeling was like a massage tool made of the softest velvet-cushioned plush.
Uncertain, Alyssa shifted away from Roxy's side and touched the weird, dark tentacles. They seemed to vibrate happily as Alyssa also gave the creature gentle pats on the head. It cozied up to them without a single hint of danger. Which was fine, but Roxy's main concern was how to send the thing back to where it belonged. Luckily, the idea popped into her head just before her princess guest gave her a hint. Her arm. The creature nuzzled it and liked it, but it was also the only way it could go home. She just had to cut a path for it.
The movement felt like too much. How was this creature supposed to know that the swipe of her hand wasn't threatening and that she wouldn't lose it the moment she dropped it? She would just have to trust that this was the way it would be. A little too much faith, but she had no choice.
The entity kept its eyes locked on each of her fingers. She lifted them the same way as before and carefully sliced the space between spaces with intention and care to provide it with an opening. The way certain parts of it probed the flaps felt bizarrely naughty. At least it didn't linger long before offering up sounds of cheerful goodbye and slipping through that strange veil and out of reality as they could see it.
The butchered beast remained motionless and messy on the ground. They didn't have to get rid of it, Roxy told herself. The fairy bastards sent it, so if they wanted to hide their business, they should've granted it some method of disposal after death. Fortunately, Alyssa figured out that she could help. After all, she had vomited over the last effort to kill them and left nothing behind. Roxy worried that she had gone through so many bouts of this recently that she may not have anything left in her. Alyssa assured her that she still had something left to give.
Not a lot came out, barely bigger than a few cups worth, but the stirring, turbulent blackness was enough to take away everything left behind. Some stray splatters of blood remained despite her best efforts, but that could be blamed on a wild animal fight that occurred overnight. Roxy slumped down, the exhaustion of this incident slipping from her like a weight—an immense weight that she didn't realize she was holding onto. Alyssa squeezed her hand.
She crouched beside the girl, not yet even processing that this was the classmate she had had so much trouble trying to get a smile from last night and ramming into complications, disappointment, sadness, and so many other emotions.
"Thank you..." Alyssa looked like she was wandering and trapped through so many uncertain emotional states, but she kept it on the simplest and kindest level.
"You're welcome…" Roxy wanted to say a whole lot of other things: ask questions, present points, scream, burst into tears, and whatever else she could think of that might be necessary. But it felt impossible to present all that in a way that made sense. Soon and plenty of all that, thoughts upon the madness.
For the moment, the most important thing was to move Alyssa's clothes into a pillowy tent of fabric that would at least keep her decent until they could figure out what they were going to do. She was able to shift around the top and do something somewhat functional. The underwear wasn't going to do much, so she retrieved that. But the pants were the real mystery, as one leg managed to be both too tight and too expansive to fit her. A rope, any type of rope, twine, or anything like that would've been just enough to shape her clothes into an absurd little kid clown outfit. Ultimately, Roxy decided to just lift Alyssa and carry her somewhat sideways with her clothes twisted as tight as possible, so she didn't slip through them. It wasn't a long-term solution, but it should be enough to get them back to the store.
Alyssa suggested a kid's clothing store about a block down the road. A good option, but likely not yet open at this hour. She promised Alyssa that she would take her there as soon as they managed to get her into something that wouldn't fall off.
The movement had to go slow with Roxy's general weakness and the awkward weight at her side. Alyssa helped where she could. Eventually, they found a pace they could work with, even if it was one small step at a time, and they scuffed across the gravel path and toward the road.
Roxy couldn't resist asking, "So....mom?"
And Alyssa gave her a firm but not painful jab in her side. "That didn't mean anything; I just wanted to get your attention, so we didn't die."
"You sure?"
"Shut up! You have me too tight. It hurts. You don't know how to hold a kid. I'm not a sack of potatoes."
Roxy paused to adjust her grip, loosening it in some places and settling the weight of the seat of the pants a little more comfortably across Alyssa's body. She didn't say anything about the adjustments, but she didn't complain either. She sniffled softly to herself and leaned against Roxy as they slowly made their way back.