Chapter Eleven

If the system had stopped helping, then they needed to get out of there, fast. She glared at the still water. It was the only way out. She went to the edge of the pool and peered down. Only her reflection peered back.

They needed a way to see through the water. There was no way in hell she was going into the pool without seeing the bottom first. It’d be a death trap.

Moira examined the cave walls, and the glowing moss caught her eye. An idea struck her, and she grabbed a chunk of the glowing moss. It glowed brighter in her hand as she tore it away from the wall.

She dropped the moss into the water. It slowly sank down into the stagnant pool, light glowed weakly from the moss. As it dropped to the bottom, something moved at the edge of the pool. Almost visible in the dull glow of the sinking moss.

Moira grabbed several more handfuls of the moss and tossed them in at several spots around the pool.  

This time, the light reached whatever had moved at the edge of the pool. Its body was long and smooth. A powerful tail trailed behind it, whipping through the water. Its arms were muscular and ended in sharp claws, and its snout stretched out to a point. The creature snarled, showing long spindly teeth and a forked tongue that flicked rapidly through the water. As it swam past, Moira saw its eyes. They were milky white. It was blind.

Moira stumbled back from the water, her heart pounding. The creature looked like something pulled straight from a nightmare. And it blocked the exit. The faint glow of the moss revealed the trap door hidden at the bottom of the pool.

She gulped, staring back down at the creature. This would take some planning.

She had two advantages here. The monster was blind, and it was confined to the pool. She could work with that. Plus, the creature reacted to the glowing moss. It had to be sensitive to light, so it still had some minimal sight. Like a deep-sea creature that’d spent its whole life in utter darkness. When exposed to light, they shrank away.

She had one light source, the moss.

This would be a battle of attrition. If she could distract it long enough to wear it down. She could kill it. As long as she stayed out of the water, it would be manageable. They had to get out of here.

She pulled more moss from the walls, piling it together in a heap in the corner. Each addition made the pile glow brighter. Moira ripped off strips of her shirt and used them to tie sections of the moss together. Creating small bundles of bright orbs.

Next, she stabbed an arrow into each orb. She had her distraction.

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Moira stood several feet back from the water. Her pile of orbs at her feet. Duke whined at her feet, pacing nervously, his nails clacking against the cave floor. She steadied her breathing. She was ready for this.

Moira grabbed the first glowing arrow and aimed it carefully at the far side of the pool. It flew toward its target. Sinking down into the water. The monster shied away from the light, rapidly swinging its tail as it tried to move away from the light. In rapid succession, Moira shot off another arrow, this time aiming for it. It squirmed as the arrow hit, barely piercing its blubbery flesh. A trail of black blood leaked from the shallow wound.

Moira grabbed another light arrow, sending it off in another direction. The monster rushed through the water, searching for its attacker. It slammed into the light, and the moss dissolved on impact. Moira hit it again with a normal arrow. Her plan seemed to be working. The monster was disoriented and confused, and she was safe on the surface. Free to slowly weaken the monster.

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She continued shooting off light arrows to distract it, followed by normal arrows to slow it down. With each arrow, it slowed, becoming sluggish in the dark water. Blood poured from the small wounds scattered across the beast. Moira breathed a sigh of relief. It was almost over. Just a few more well-placed arrows and it’d be dead.

The water lapped the edge of the pool. She took a step back. A minute ago, the water had been almost a foot below the ledge. Now it was almost touching.

The water flowed past the pool’s edge, flooding the cave in an inch of water. Water that was continuing to rise.

“Fuck.”

Moira stumbled back away from the pool. They were screwed. There was no other exit beyond the trapdoor. If the water kept rising, they’d either be eaten or drown. Neither were options she wanted to consider.

The water was already up to her knees. Her chest pounded, and her eyes flickered back and forth, searching for another way out. Some solution she hadn’t considered. The water hit her thighs. They were almost out of time.

The monster swam up to the surface, the water now just deep enough for it to escape its prison.

She scrambled against the cave wall, pulling out her bow. She’d weakened it before and could still kill it. She just needed to focus.

The creature opened its mouth in a lurching, silent scream.

Its head whipped toward her.

Its blank gaze almost seemed to pierce her soul. It flew forward so fast that it was only a blur in the water.

Echolocation. It could feel where she was. Moira frantically let go of another arrow, aiming as best as she could at the monster speeding toward her. She missed, the arrow splashing uselessly into the water.

She reached back to grab another arrow and found her quiver empty. The monster leaped up out of the water, aiming straight for her with incredible speed. Moira squeezed her eyes shut and waited for death.

Something slammed into her, knocking her to the side. She splashed into the water, hitting the rocky ground. A scream echoed through the cavern, and her eyes flew open.

The monster had Duke in its jaws. It shook him like a rag doll, tearing into him. Duke screamed again, the sound deafeningly loud and strangely human. 

The sound broke through her shock. She stiffly got to her feet, her focus zeroed in on the monster. She half swam, half ran forward, pulling her sword from her Inventory.

Moira slammed the blade down into its neck. Once. Twice. Three times. Too many times to count. It dropped Duke from its jaws and slumped to the ground, dead. She let the sword drop to her feet, her hands shook uncontrollably.

Ding!

She stumbled over to Duke and pulled him into her arms, trying to keep his head above water. He panted heavily as blood poured from his wounds. She grabbed the last remaining health potion and poured it down his throat. He stared into her eyes as she held him, gently rocking him back and forth. His wounds continued bleeding. The potion wasn’t enough.

“No. Please. Please, hang on, bud. I can’t lose you,” she whispered.

He stared back at her, a look of complete and utter trust in his eyes. His breathing slowed and then stopped.

He was silent. Gone. The life faded out of him so suddenly; it was like it’d never been there at all. 

Her heart broke in two as she collapsed on top of him, sobbing, sinking down to the wet floor. Pain wracked through her as she cried, holding her best friend in her arms. Flashes of memories raced past her.

Picking Duke up for the first time, sleeping on the tattered blue blanket on the floor beside his crate on that first night. Moving into her first apartment, the one just off first avenue, with him at her side.

And when her dad died, he’d been there. All the times he’d licked away her tears and stood by her side. Loyally taking care of her just as much as she’d taken care of him. 

Unnoticed, the water slowly drained back into the pool, leaving her to mourn him in dark, wet silence.

She held him for a long time. Hours passed, and he grew cold in her arms, but she couldn’t let go. Because if she let go, it meant he was really gone.