Page 46 of The Goblin and The Dancer
The tentacle he was clinging to curled up on itself, the tip reaching back to wrap around Grik’s waist. And then it began to squeeze.
He could barely breathe. He had thought he had faced fear already today, but he knew now that he had not. Not really—not like this.
He was being drawn rapidly through the air, straight towards the kraken’s mouth.
Grik could hear Rosanna screaming his name, and it was at least some comfort to think that if this was to be the end, at least her voice would be the last sound he ever heard.
He kicked desperately, trying to break free of the kraken’s grasp. He caught a confusing glimpse of frantic activity around the cave—only seen in broken glances. Paul redoubling his efforts to hack at the kraken and looking furious as he shouted at Grik to stop being an idiot. Rosanna throwing rocks at the kraken and shouting—both of them trying to detract the monster’s attention from Grik. Ratiga’s men, unwittingly helping by continuing to fire at the monster, though Grik felt a bullet whiz by his head with startling nearness.
Though his vision was beginning to darken from the pressure about his chest and everything about him was jouncing as if he were in the middle of an earthquake, Grik could still see that appalling mouth, opening wider and wider, as he was drawn swiftly towards it.
This is it. At least I saved Rosanna and Paul. At least they’ll have each other.Grik took a shallow breath. Knowing that would be enough.
He closed his eyes and set his mouth to keep it from trembling.
And found that he had suddenly stopped moving. He hung in the air, suspended, the rapid movement coming to an abrupt halt.
Grik’s heart seemed to stop with it. He dared to look and to hope.
He wasn’t imagining it. Several of the tentacles that had been writhing in the air grasped at the sides of the cavern, like hands grabbing at something to support a fainting body. They slithered down the walls and struck the water with limp slaps.
The tentacle holding Grik loosened, the suction cups peeling away from him with little sighs. Grik finally wrested himself free and fell.
It was a drop of perhaps fifteen feet, and Grik hit the cold water with an impact that jarred every bone in his body. He beat wildly at the water, causing white plumes to erupt in the darkness. He finally broke the surface and looked up at the monster above him.
A low moan was emanating from the kraken, echoing through the cavern like a rumble of thunder. A stench filled the air as the kraken released a new odor. Grik could only hope it was a sign that the poison was working rapidly and the kraken was in too much distress to attack. The flailing of its tentacles was definitely slackening.
Grik’s plan had worked.
He whooped, then thought better of it and merely slapped the water with his hands as he called triumphantly to the others. “Paul! Rosanna! Jump in, quickly!”
They didn’t respond; they didn’t have the breath to spare. Rosanna was running across the ledge, pursued by some of Ratiga’s men but trying to reach Paul, while Paul struggled to get past a blackening tentacle to reach her. Finally, with a roar of impatience, he hacked the tentacle in half and then held it up to block a bullet that whizzed towards him.
Grik was unable to help them; it was all he could do to keep from drowning as the weakened thrashing of the poisoned kraken sent one wave after another into his face and over his head. They had to get out of here before they were shot. They would have to swim directly past the kraken, hoping that it would not seize them. And, if it did die, they would have to hope that its collapsing bulk would not strike and trap them in the depths of the pool. How long had Paul said slack tide would last? Twenty to thirty minutes. Everything seemed to have been happening within seconds, but Grik felt in his bones that it had been far longer. Their window of opportunity was closing fast—too fast. If they were forced to wait for the next slack tide, they would never get out of this cavern alive.
Through a sheen of frothy water, Grik saw Rosanna finally reach Paul and seize his hand.
“Paul!” Grik managed to yell through a mouthful of water. “Bring that tentacle!”
Paul looked baffled, but he picked up the severed limb and immediately jumped into the water, pulling Rosanna after him as they began to swim towards Grik.
“Don’t touch me!” Grik managed to choke out. “The poison, remember? Hold the end of the tentacle—and don’t let go!”
Rosanna managed to squawk out a feeble sound of disgust, but she obeyed, seizing the tentacle in the middle, while Paul and Grik held on to either end.
Grik had one last, fleeting glimpse of the horrible cavern before they left it behind.
The kraken had roused itself in a final struggle of outrage and pain. As it surged sideways through the water, it slammed into one of the rock spires, which crumbled, bits of rubble flying in all directions like shrapnel, sending goblins and elves diving for cover. One of the kraken’s tentacles raked across the cave’s ledge, and Ratiga fell once more into the water.She surfaced a moment later, roaring louder than any monster, blubbering at her men to do something. Then the kraken’s shadow loomed across the water, and the darkness of its mass hid Ratiga from sight.
Grik didn’t see her again, and he couldn’t hear anything that happened over the myriad of cacophonic sounds in the cavern—and he didn’t want to know who or what died or survived in the pandemonium behind him. He only wanted to escape.
He dove, clutching the end of the tentacle as he led the way to the cavern’s mouth. Black water streamed past him as he kicked furiously, his heart pounding until he felt it might break in two. He could feel thrashing behind him as the others struggled after him, and he redoubled his efforts for their sakes. He was a goblin. He was stronger and had greater endurance than elves. He couldn’t fail them.
He realized that the water around him was growing lighter. The sensation of crushing rock above him had suddenly lifted . . . along with his heart.He aimed upwards, rising slowly, turning his face towards the glare of the sunlit surface above him.His head broke through the waves, and he choked and blinked at the world around him.
Air. Light. Sky. Sun.
They had made it.
