Orc and Bunny

Chapter 15 - Cursed Wounds

Anne barely managed to keep hold of her sword as Illusprady the Venomous pulled it out of her abdomen and threw it away. Anne, newly freed from her silk prison, rolled to her feet, sword up and ready. Anne’s muscles tensed as she saw the look of annoyance rather than fear on Illusprady’s face.

With what Anne could only guess was a growl of disgust, the woman swirled her arms in a strange series of gestures, and vanished. Anne could hardly believe her eyes, but she regained her composure quickly. She knew without thinking that if she had any chance of surviving the next few minutes, she needed Belmoral.

She turned to the webbed sack that held her unconscious companion, and sliced the webs apart. They were harder to cut than the ones that had been in the illusion they had been trapped in, but after a few moments, Belmoral fell forward with a nasty thud. Anne turned back to the direction that Illusprady had disappeared when she heard a malevolent giggle that chilled her to the bone.

Anne heard Belmoral groan, and slowly getting to her feet.

“Belmoral, quick, find your weapon. This is far from over.” Anne hissed.

“Anne? What?” Belmoral sighed sleepily.

“Hey! Quickly,” Anne shouted at Belmoral, instantly regretting the tone which was much harsher than she intended it to be, “we’re still under attack.”

Belmoral jumped to her feet, and pulled her bardiche from the webbing that held it to the cavern wall to her left.

“Ow,” Belmoral groaned, “What happened to my head?”

“You remember Illusprady, we were-”

“Illusprady the Venomous, young toy,” Illusprady the Venomous spat from thin air just to Anne’s right, “let’s not be rude.”

Anne immediately lunged with her rapier, just as she had been trained to do, but hit nothing but thin air.

“Fine. Illusprady the Venomous, had us trapped in an illusion.” Anne finished.

“I must admit, britomite,” Illusprady taunted, from somewhere ahead of them, “I had no idea, that big hulking toy was your father, but now I see the resemblance.”

“What? You saw my father? Do you know what happened to him?”

“Oh, yes,” Illusprady continued, “I happened to him, dear toy. I convinced him that he had to conquer your village for my sake. That your leader was a criminal. I fancied that I might be able to make him send me more toys when I wanted them. Then he disappointed me by dying uselessly instead.”

Stolen novel; please report.

A green light haloed Belmoral’s face as it twisted in unthinking rage. She raced forward growling like an animal and started swinging wildly at the air around her. Anne could only watch on, but then she noticed something on the ground.

“Belmoral, stop,” Anne called, “Look at the ground, she’s bleeding.”

“Clever toy,” Illusprady cooed as Anne was lifted into the air by her ears.

Anne’s ears started ringing as she immediately dropped her rapier, and grabbed Illusprady’s wrists to ease the pain in her ears. Her screams must have broken Belmoral out of whatever enraged trance Illusprady had put her in. She immediately turned and threw her bardiche like a spear right next to Anne’s head.

It sunk into flesh with a sickening skwik and Illusprady let go of her, and Anne fell onto her knees. The bardiche fell to the ground with a clatter. She rolled and grabbed her rapier, stabbing where Illusprady had been. She cursed as she once more hit nothing but thin air.

“Anne,” Belmoral crouched next her, a hand on her shoulder, “are you alright?”

“I’ll be fine,” Anne reassured her, “Watch for the blood spatter, that’s where she is.”

They spent the next few minutes trying to find their invisible attacker. They would have thought she had run away, if it weren’t for the strange chanting she was doing. The sound of it echoing off the cave wall made it impossible to locate her by ear alone.

They painstakingly followed the trail of blood, hoping to locate her before whatever horrible spell she was planning was ready. Anne could hear the crackling energy starting to gather but couldn’t locate its source. The entire cave was glowing an eerie purple.

“Anne! Look out!” Belmoral yelled.

Anne stumbled as the spell shot through the air where she had only just been. The spell hit Belmoral instead, and Anne froze as she saw an alien script grow across Belmoral’s exposed skin in a nasty glowing purple, and she let out a piercing, feral shriek before she collapsed.

“Ha!” the crazed Illusprady cried out, her invisibility now worn off. She lowered herself from her ceiling perch right over where Belmoral had fallen, “I must declare that I have always much desired to use that spell. Though I did not intend its use to be on-”

Illusprady’s sharp inhale was interrupted by a bloody gurgling as Anne’s blade pierced her through the heart. The spider-like woman at the end of Anne’s rapier collapsed, talking with her the sword that caused her demise. Anne was already crouching over the prone Belmoral who was writhing on the floor. Blood was spurting out of her body from wounds that opened and closed like horrible mouths.

Anne grabbed the emergency medical supplies out of her pack. She wouldn’t have enough gauze. Not even between both kits. She swore under her breath. Wait, hadn’t Belmoral told her about an alternative? Of course, spider webs.

Anne rushed around the cave, grabbing armfuls of the cleanest webs she could find, before crouching down at Belmoral’s side.

“I’m sorry, this is going to hurt,” Anne wiped her eyes on her sleeve before she started stuffing the opening wounds with all the spider web she could find.

It had taken two trips around the cave to fully stop the bleeding, but the glowing script covering Belmoral didn’t disappear. She sniffled, and wiped her eyes. Grabbing both packs she managed to secure everything to her front. It was incredibly heavy and massively uncomfortable.

She stumbled over to the semi-conscious Belmoral, who was muttering something about a sunlit field. With great effort, she lifted the heavier woman onto her back and started walking out of the cave where she had nearly died.

“Don’t die,” Anne grunted, “Please, don’t die. We’re so close, you need to hold on. Please. Please, oh God, please.”

Each step brought with it fresh terror that maybe this would be the final breath Belmoral would take.