Jun winced as she tore another long strip of cloth from the bottom of her skirt. She hadn't even had her new clothes for a day and she'd already practically destroyed them! She vowed to herself that once she got to civilization, she'd get all the clothes!
The scavenged weapon was a strange one. It looked like a large wand or baton with a sword blade stuck on the end. When she'd first dug it up, she thought it might be a spear that had been broken in half, especially since it had seemed unusually light. But after scraping off the worst of the caked dirt, it's true form was revealed to be a long blade attached to a short staff, almost like a short sword with an unusually long hilt.
The blade was about one and half feet long that vaguely reminded her of a machete mixed with a katana. The cutting edge extended the full length of one side of the blade and only a third of the reverse, with several small blue gems were embedded near the base along the blunt bottom two thirds of the blade. The gems were surprisingly beautiful, and she couldn't help but wonder if the weapon she'd uncovered was more functional or more decoration. A circular hand guard separated the blade from the handle, which was short for a spear but long for a sword, only a few inches longer than her arm measured from finger tips to shoulder. The bottom of the handle had another circular hand guard which separated it from a heavy weight that looked like an elongated tear drop. The entire thing seemed to be made up of the same bluish silver metal, though she couldn't be sure in the dim light of the cavern with dirt still stubbornly clinging to portions of it. When she'd rested the weapon from the tip of the blade touching the ground the silvery blue weapon came up to her chest.
It was a bit of an awkwardly proportioned weapon, but its surprising lightness made it easy enough for her to carry. She'd done a few test swings and stabs with it that had felt awkward at first, but she quickly became accustomed to the strange weapon.
It wasn't until she got back to the ledge above the campfire though that she realized it was too awkward a thing to carry while climbing back down, leading to her current work. Working by the light of the campfire that she was surprised to see still burning below, she cut off strips of fabric from the bottom of her skirt and tied them into makeshift straps that she used to carefully secure the weapon at an angle across her back. Having the blade of weapon so close to her head made her nervous, especially with how sharp it seemed to be with how easily it'd cut through the sturdy fabric backed leather of her skirt. Her formerly ankle length skirt now came up to her knees to give her enough strips to tie the not-spear to her back in a mostly secure manner.
The climb back down the ledge was much slower than the climb up had been as it required Jun to search out each foothold by touch. There were several close calls where her booted foot failed to catch on a foothold properly and she nearly fell, only her desperate grip on her handholds and slow going keeping her from falling. Each near fall frayed her nerves not only at getting hurt if she fell, but in fear that the monster could hear any noise she made and come to investigate. Jun was certain that if that happened, she would definitely be torn apart by the creature before she could climb back up or get her weapon out to be of any use.
As her foot touched the smooth cavern floor next to the campfire, Jun let out a quiet sight of relief. Firmly planted on the ground with the monster nowhere in sight, Jun took a moment to catch her breath before tugging the not-spear loose. She gave it a few more experimental swings, the silver blade gleaming in the light of the campfire. She was surprised at first to see it still burning, but she didn't have time to figure that out. The cat or its owner could come back any moment, and she had to take care of the monster before then so it didn't hurt them!
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Jun inched closer to the edge of the cave wall that separated the camp site from the front of the cave, her hands nervously gripping the not-spear and straining her ears to hear anything beyond the soft scuffing of her footsteps and her heart hammering in her chest. Poking her head out around the corner, she felt a mix of terror and relief to see that the monster was still curled up, it's previously unnoticed tail wrapped around it.
Jun took a steadying breath and quietly stepped out around the corner, the not-spear extended out in front of her. This was it. She either chased off or killed the monster, or it killed her, and surprised the cat and it's still-absent owner when they came back, probably killing them too! She couldn't let that happen, not to the cat who'd helped her, even if it was a bit condescending, nor the cat's owner who might be able to help her get her bearings in this new world.
Taking a final deep breath, Jun let out a battle cry and charged at the sleeping monster, the not-spear extended out and pointed at its side!
A loud roar violently shook the cave as the not-spear stabbed into the monster's side, deflecting off a bone and leaving a short, shallow gash along its ribs. The monster leapt back on all fours as it bellowed in pain!
The monster stood with its back to the cave wall opposite Jun, it's body angled to block the cave's exit. Jun shakily pointed the not-spear at the gorilla-lizard-dog's chest, her heart beating wildly as adrenaline flooded her system. The beast snarled at her, baring its fangs as it suddenly swiped at her with its hubcap sized paws!
Jun jerked to the side but she wasn't fast enough to fully avoid the blow. Her scream pierced through the air as the creature's claw ripped a jagged gash down her left arm and knocked her to the ground. The cave shook as the creature's massive paw slammed into the ground, its claws piercing deep into the stone and getting stuck!
Gritting her teeth, Jun rolled away from the monster and back up to her feet, clutching her weapon in her uninjured hand. She swung the not-spear in a one-handed backhand as if it were a baseball batt. The blade sunk deep into the creature's pinned arm and ripped through it like butter, carving a gash from it's wrist to it's shoulder! The swing threw Jun off balance as the expected resistance never materialized.
Instead of taking advantage of Jun's vulnerability, the monster jerked away from her, managing to free it's claw as it did. Dragging it's injured limb, it backed away from her, its eyes darting between the gleaming weapon that hurt it, and the cave's mouth to its back. Baring its fangs at her, it snarled and quickly turned, lashing out at her with it's powerful tail!
The scaly appendage knocked her into the wall, the impact driving the air from her lungs. Panicking, Jun flailed at the tail and scored a lucky hit that severed the last foot of the muscular tail. It was the monster's turn to scream as it flicked the remains of its tail away from her and beat a hasty retreat into the clearing outside. The clamor of angry snarls, crashes, and branches snapping came from the clearing as Jun wheezed from having the air knocked out of her.
Pushing herself off the cave wall, she followed after the monster into the clearing, intent on finishing the fight. Jun wobbled at the mouth of the cave, her weapon gripped tightly in her remaining good hand as she scanned the clearing for her wounded foe. It wasn't there. A trail of dark red blood, crushed vegetation, and broken branches showed where it had passed through the clearing in a hurry as it rushed into the ring of trees that enclosed most of it.
The adrenaline in pumping through her veins vanished, taking with it the well of energy that had fueled her desperate fight. Jun slumped to her knees, the not-spear clattering to ground beside her as a mixture of shock and relief came over her. She'd done it! She chased the monster off! Reflexively, she raised her arms up to cheer, but was surprised when only her right hand entered her vision. Turning her head, she looked down at her left hand, her eyes following the trail of blood up her arm to the large gash running from the top of her shoulder down to her elbow.
As if seeing it with her own eyes reminded her body of the injury, a wave of pain radiated from her left arm! Her head swam as she suddenly grew lightheaded and nauseous. Bile rose up in her throat as she vomited down her front, adding to the blood and dirt covering her.
"Oh. That's not good." Everything went black.