Day Two Continued

Thepa pulled back from the kiss, her lips tingling with the sense of warmth. All around her, the ground started to shake. At first, she thought it was just her imagination, having been caught up in the emotion of the moment, her knees weak, her heart rapidly pounding in her chest. But as the water vibrated and the trees shook with falling coconuts, she knew something far more sinister was stirring.

With urgency surging through her, she scrambled onto the shore, slipping in the shifting mud as Wilran and Gamma clung to each other for stability. The ground heaved beneath her hooves, making every step a battle, but she pushed forward, her instincts screaming at her to get clear of the water. To her left, Roan stood rigid, his fur bristling and a deep growl rumbling from his throat. His amber eyes locked westward, where the oasis bordered the desert. The last time she had seen Roan act in alert was in the jungle days before, and she had mistaken his aggression for hostility towards her. Now, she knew better.

"Something's coming!" Thepa called out, snatching up her bow, bag, and quiver.

From behind her, she could hear Fokin pull himself from the water, but for the first time that day, she resisted the urge pulling her in his direction. If she had thought of it, she might have welcomed the rumble as a nice distraction, finally relieving her of her burden. Instead, she readied her bow and aimed.

The rumbling reached its peak. Sand spewed from the ground like a volcano, its dust scattering into the cloudless sky as it settled into the lower atmosphere. In its wake, a creature the like of which Thepa had never seen emerged from its sandy hole.

Thepa's breath caught in her throat. A gargantuan wyrm rose from the earth, towering twenty feet high and stretching over fifty feet long. Its scales, dark and coarse as dried bark, were studded with black barbs that shimmered ominously in the muted light. Its head, broad and menacing, swung slowly as it sniffed the air, and its maw opened to reveal rows upon rows of jagged fangs—some the size of Thepa's arm.

She pitied the poor soul that got caught in its trap. Unfortunately, as the creature turned in their direction, Thepa thought it looked hungry.

"Get to safety!" Thepa shouted at Gamma and Wilran as she fired an arrow into the creature trying to get its attention.

The two fled back towards the dunes, and the arrow worked, but not in the way Thepa had hoped. It got the creature's attention alright, but its stone tip failed to penetrate the creature's rough exterior resulting in the arrow bouncing right off its scaly hide.

The two bolted toward the dunes as Thepa let the arrow fly. It struck the wyrm's hide, but again the stone tip bounced off harmlessly, the beast's scales too thick to pierce. Cursing under her breath, she quickly readied another shot, but the wyrm was already charging. The beast barreled toward her, and with no time to think, Thepa's hand instinctively reached for her pendant.

Before she could activate it, Fokin grabbed her jarring the small silvery object from her grasp. His strong arm firmly wrapped around her waist just in time to pull her up from the creature's dive, the two now sailing through the desert on Roan's back. Once more the ground shook under the massive impact of the creature penetrating its sandy exterior, but Roan kept running north of the oasis in what Thepa hoped was an attempt to distance themselves from Wilran and Gamma.

Thepa glanced over at Fokin, her heart pounding not just from the danger but from the proximity of him. His hair whipped wildly in the wind, his chest rising and falling in rhythm with Roan's powerful strides. The light had once again caught the amber of his iris and with it, her heart swooned. She turned her body for a closer look, but as she did, Fokin flipped her to his backside where she instantly wrapped her hands around his waist and breathed in his deep earthly scent.

Intoxicating, she sighed taking him all in. With every smell she took, she could smell the jungle and the salty sea that surrounded it.

Her thoughts raced, caught between the primal urge to run her fingers through his hair and the adrenaline surging through her veins. I want to lose myself in him, she thought. To walk with him through the jungle, hand in hand, without a care in the world. But the moment passed in an instant as the ground behind them erupted once more.

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The creature had once more broken through the surface of the desert and was on them faster than a cat chasing its prey. Up ahead, Roan zigged and zagged through the dunes, narrowly avoiding the creature's deadly swipes, but they couldn't keep this up forever. Thepa knew they had to act fast.

"We need to find a way to break through its armor!" Fokin shouted over the roaring wind.

Thepa nodded, her mind racing. "I have an idea. Can you get me close?"

Without hesitation, Fokin guided Roan into a wide arc, drawing the wyrm into a slow turn. The creature's massive bulk made it sluggish, and soon they were close enough for Thepa's plan to take shape. She spotted a cluster of jagged rocks to the north, and with a quick gesture, she pointed them out.

"Head straight for those rocks!" she called over her shoulder. "I've got a plan, but it's risky. I'll need Roan steady."

A stupid plan, she thought, as she stood up on Roan's back.

Fokin glanced over his shoulder, their eyes locking in a brief but electric moment. Thepa, spurred by the pull of his gaze and the uncertainty of what might come next, pressed her lips to his in a kiss that was as fleeting as it was charged. It was over much faster than she wanted, but for the first time, her head was winning out her heart. Before she lost her nerve, she leapt on the creature back, prodding him forward with the simple wave of her hand.

For his part, Fokin looked pleased with what she had done. He gave her a smile, nodded, and took off straight ahead as she carefully toed forward on the back of the creature.

The ride was a lot more treacherous than it had been with Roan. Thepa's footing was precarious, the creature's massive body undulating beneath her in a rhythm that felt like it was trying to shake her off with every move. It barreled forward across the shifting sands, its scaly hide jarring her with every jolt and bump. Fortunately, the beast didn't seem to react to her presence. Hoping to press her luck, she carefully crawled up its spine, keeping her breaths shallow to avoid drawing attention.

When she reached its head, Thepa yanked a length of rope from her pack, her heart hammering. She knew she had only one chance. With shaking hands, she tossed the rope around the wyrm's neck, looping it tight before pulling the makeshift reins taut. She took one last look towards the object of her affection, knowing that the stupidity her mad gambit might be her last.

Ahead, Fokin and Roan streaked across the desert like shadows, the wolf now running as if the wind itself pushed him. Thepa steadied her breath, gripping the rope and bow with one hand and drawing her string with the other. With a final breath and a prayer to an unknown god, she aimed for the vulnerable spot between the wyrm's scales, then released the arrow.

ROARRRRRR! Screamed the creature in pain, picking up speed.

Its sudden burst nearly flung Thepa from its back, her body snapping forward with the force. She barely held on, her arm looped around the rope just in time to save her from being thrown into the sandstorm the wyrm kicked up. In the chaos of it all, Thepa lost sight of Fokin and Roan and by the time she mounted back to her starting position, she couldn't find them. Panic clawed at her as she desperately searched for them, but the roar of the beast drowned out all other thoughts.

Hoping she hadn't caused them to be trampled, Thepa reset the reins, wrapped her arm once more and fired a second shot into the creature's head. A second scream erupted from the mouth of the beast, causing a further lurch in acceleration, but this time Thepa was ready. The creature was quickly approaching the rocks, and with it a new plan emerged. She could take down the creature herself by forcing it to run straight into the rocks. With any luck, it would have nowhere else to go and inertia would take care of the rest.

It was now or never. Thepa wrapped the rope tighter around her arm and fired three arrows in rapid succession, each one hitting the cracks between its scales.

The beast screeched in agony, its writhing body hurtling toward the rocks with unstoppable momentum. Without wasting time, Thepa allowed herself to slide down its neck, still grasping the rope an bow, adrenaline pumping as the shadow of the cliffs loomed large. The ground blurred beneath her as she rolled off the side, tumbling down the creature's wake faster than she had ever moved before.

The wyrm's massive body slammed into the rocks with a thunderous crash, sending shockwaves through the earth and a cascade of debris raining down. Thepa tumbled through the sand, her body a blur of flailing limbs and burning scrapes as she fought to regain control. Dust and rock exploded around her, but as she came to a halt, she realized something that made her extremely grateful and relieved.

I'm alive.

With a sigh, Thepa grabbed the pendant, mostly checking to see if it was still there, and thanked the goddess of her friend that she had made it through.

"Looks like I won't be seeing you today, Rory," Thepa muttered as she attempted to sit up.

Its light flickered, and she considered her work a job well done. If its soft flow was all the satisfaction she was going to get from her friend, she was more than happy. The wyrm was defeated.

But her triumph was short-lived. As the dust began to settle, Thepa's eyes scanned the horizon, dread creeping up her spine. She couldn't see Fokin or Roan anywhere. Anxiety gnawed at her, pushing her to her hooves as she staggered toward where she had last seen them. She started to retrace her path, when a trick of the light caught her out of the corner of her eye and a small pinch bit at the side of her neck. Thepa tried to bring her hand up to swat at whatever masticated her, but as she did, she suddenly became woozy and crashed to the ground unconscious.