Page 67 of Nexus
Darting from side to side, I did my best to keep the giant’s attention on me. He was standing directly beneath the object we’d come here to retrieve. Ruen sprang into action as the guardian swung his hand at me again. The vampire leaped onto the creature’s leg and quickly scrambled upwards, using the unsightly lumps for purchase.
Unaware of my assistant scaling his body like a ladder, my foe made another grab for me. His fingertips brushed my shoulder and that was enough to make me stumble and fall to my knees. “He’s freaking strong!” I complained, surging to my feet before he could close his fingers around me.
I glanced up to see Ruen had reached the giant’s shoulder. Running out of the way when a huge hand came towards me, I lost my balance and tripped over.
Aurora screeched loudly, drawing the giant’s attention away from me for a few precious seconds. I scrambled to my feet and looked up to see Ruen standing on the guardian’s gnarled head. He took a running jump and launched himself at the shelf where the magical item was stashed.
Completely oblivious to the vampire’s actions, my opponent returned his focus to me. I raced away from him, but I didn’t move fast enough. His fingertip clipped my leg and I went sprawling on my face. I heard a triumphant shout from above, then Ruen leaped to my rescue. Landing on the giant’s head, the vampire did a frenzied tap dance on my foe’s pate to distract him. Faint light shone from the prize he held in his fist.
The foot that had been raised to stomp me to death hesitated long enough for me to scramble out of the way. The stupefied expression on the guardian’s face was enough to make me burst into snickers. Ruen tucked the scroll fragment into his sack, then began his descent.
Massive fingers brushed the top of the giant’s head. When he found nothing there, he glared down at me and bellowed in annoyance. I was back on my feet by now and knew it was going to be tricky getting out of there alive. He was far less creaky now and was moving more fluidly.
Ruen dropped to the ground, but stayed behind the giant so he would be out of his line of sight. If the guardian discovered the item he was guarding had been stolen, he would probably go berserk.
I started backing away towards the exit, hoping he’d let me go once he realized I was leaving. Unfortunately, he was too angry to let me walk away. He rushed at me and there was no way I could avoid him this time.
Aurora burst out of hiding, holding her broken wing against her body protectively. She reached the giant just as he bent down to snatch me into the air. The bird pecked him on the toe and he froze with his fingers mere inches away from me.
“Holy crap, that was close!” I said in relief.
The giant straightened up, eyes going blank from whatever vision the magical bird was showing him. Then his back bowed and I knew what was coming next, no pun intended. I dove out of the way just as a geyser of thick fluid gushed out of the giant. Swaying on his feet, he fell sideways and crashed to the ground, out cold.
“You could have drowned if you’d been standing in the path of that stream,” Ruen said in awe as he carried Aurora over to me.
“I really owe you guys,” I said in gratitude, bending down to pick him up and hugging him to my gigantic bosom.
“Ew. Put me down!” the leech complained as his head became caught in my colossal cleavage. “I can’t breathe!”
“You don’t need to breathe,” I reminded him, but put him down anyway.
Aurora looked very pleased with herself. She waited for me to take her from Ruen and place her on my shoulder, then she snuggled against me. It was like having a warm feather duster brushing against my neck, but it wasn’t an unpleasant sensation.
“Let’s get the hell out of here before he wakes up,” I suggested.
“You should take this,” my undead assistant said and reached into his sack.
I took the scroll from him and examined it curiously. Made of thick, ancient ivory colored parchment. It had been torn at the bottom, but the top was intact, which meant it had to be the first piece of the scroll. I unrolled it and glanced at the words that were inscribed in red ink. The words almost seemed to squirm on the page when I tried to read them. “It’s gibberish to me,” I said, then stuffed it into my sack. It felt tough enough not to crumple if it became squashed by anything, such as Ruen when he fell asleep at dawn.
“If we hurry, we should be able to backtrack and make it past the cliffs before the sun rises,” Ruen said.
We all wanted to be far away before the giant woke up and discovered our theft. I grabbed him by the arm and swung him onto my back, then began to trot back along the main tunnel. After a few seconds, dread reared its ugly head and I came to a stop.
“What’s wrong?” Ruen asked.
“I can sense someone coming,” I whispered.
He peered over my shoulder, trying to see ahead, then we both heard footsteps. It wasn’t just one person, but lots of people. “Tell me it isn’t who I think it is,” he pleaded.
“It’s the overlord, his two minions and a bunch of soldiers,” I confirmed. To my senses, the creature in the lead was a carbuncle, followed by two festering boils, then dozens of pimples and boils. “I don’t want to sound dramatic, but I’m pretty sure we’re screwed,” I added.
“We managed to defeat a giant,” Ruen reminded me. “We can take them down, too. It’s not like they brought an entire army with them.”
“That’s true,” I conceded. “I wonder how they knew we were here?” An animal howled further down the tunnel and I had my answer.
“That must be one of the trackers,” Ruen figured as he dropped to the ground.
“How are we going to play this?” I asked, hoping he would be able to come up with a plan. “Should we act like stupid monsters?”
