Blood Ties

Gritting her teeth through the pain caused by sprinting through the hostile brush, Morwyn burst into the oasis clearing with her blade at the ready. The scene that greeted her was a chaotic flurry of dust, debris, shouting, and hissing. Amidst the confusion she could only just make out the silhouette of Eronir, his bloodied spear sweeping and thrusting in fluid motions to keep a massive thrashing form at bay. Morwyn desperately squinted through the darkness to try and make sense of the creature, but it moved with such swiftness and kicked up so much dust that she could only make out the most major of details.

It was reptilian, and it was huge.

She froze for a panicked moment, uncertain of what to do with the seemingly insignificant knife in her hand, then felt the dark form of Yvonne dart past her with a cry of alarm. The elf raced toward the edge of the oasis and swept something up from the ground before retreating and calling out to Eronir. The thrum of her longbow was followed by an angry hiss from the monster as her arrow surely found its mark and briefly split its attention away from the spearman.

“Gods damn this darkness,” Morwyn cursed as she scrambled around in a near-blind search of her sword. After a handful of seconds she realized they'd entered the oasis from an entirely different angle than they'd left and she had no familiar landmarks to guide her to her equipment. Anger and frustration quickly reached their peak and she felt a heat rising within her at the sound of a whipping impact and a grunt of pain from one of her companions. Gritting her teeth, Morwyn prepared to simply charge into the melee and do what she could to distract the beast before a mental whisper of warning held her in check. Whether it was her own conscience or a flash of memory regarding her discussions with Hazel she couldn't say, but regardless she paused to consider her situation before throwing herself blindly into danger.

She needed to see what she was doing if she were to be of any use. Finding her gear in the darkness and lighting a torch would take far too long, and she was fairly certain her kit lay within the midst of the battle anyway. She had no magic stone to light up the night like Argoth had done in the mountain pass, nor the knowledge of how to conjure illumination like Rennock. Patchy clouds obscured the night sky, and even if they didn't the moon wasn't nearly full enough to-

A brief image of the radiance of the Moonmother's judgment flashed through Morwyn's mind, and on instinct rather than conscious deliberation she lifted her left hand and channeled the gift of her goddess into her open palm. It sprang instantly to her bidding and, responding quickly to her urgent need, the flare of golden light transmuted into a silvery-white orb floating above her hand. It shone so brilliantly in contrast to the depths of night that she had to avert her gaze for fear of blinding herself. She felt a swelling warmth and sureness within her chest that dulled the heat of rage at her previous impotence, and Morwyn knew that her goddess was with her.

The sounds of combat ground to a halt as the entire oasis was illuminated with a spectral white light that cast hard shadows across the scene. Morwyn snatched the gleaming sphere out of the air and tossed it to the side where it bounced and rolled until it came to rest in a small depression in the ground, pulsing with energy. Hoping she hadn't blinded her allies- but if she had, that it had blinded their enemy as well- Morwyn took her first good look at their foe as she inched cautiously toward her gear. Her pack and sword were at the water's edge, having apparently been sent flying during the fray.

The desert monitor, for it could be nothing else based on Eronir's earlier description, was near to double the dimensions that the stoic elf had given them. Several arrows protruded from its body and bloody wounds rent its scaly hide in a dozen places. They were small and insignificant for a monster of such stature, though the thing did appear to be stymied by the sudden appearance of concentrated moonlight. For a moment the giant lizard hesitated and it stared at the orb as if deliberating on whether or not it was a threat, its long neck arched and its tail thrashing in warning. The lizard's tongue, as long as a bull whip, flicked out from its mouth as it tested the air and let loose a menacing, guttural hiss. Yvonne, heaving for breath but apparently unscathed, stood sentinel over the prone and unmoving form of Eronir with her last arrow nocked. The rest of her arrows had scattered out of her quiver onto the ground when she'd hastily snatched a handful upon their arrival.

Without wasting another second to see what the creature would do, Morwyn sheathed her knife and dashed the remaining distance to her equipment. She yanked her sword free of its scabbard and flooded it with a stream of frost. Counting on the fact that her rapid movement would surely draw the monitor's ire down upon her, she pivoted on her heels and made a rising cut to meet the creature's maw with her azure blade. Its massive head struck forward like a great serpent, yet the tip of her sword made contact with it's lower jaw and left a shallow gash that flash-froze before it could bleed. Though the wound was clearly superficial the icy sting of her magic made the beast recoil in agony and confusion. Morwyn steadied herself and held her sword in a high guard, ready to intercept it again if it tried for another lunging bite.

“Morwyn!” Yvonne cried suddenly, loosing her final arrow from somewhere to Morwyn's left to no avail. “Watch out for it's-”

Yvonne's warning had barely registered in Morwyn's mind before she was met with a sudden impact on her right side that sent her sprawling to the ground, her sword flying from her hands as she tumbled into a confused heap. Dazed from the blow, she was only partially aware of something slithering around her midsection and lifting her off the ground. Her vision wavered and she blinked rapidly to try and restore her senses, yet before she could do so she was flung high into the air by the monitor's tail. She saw only the blurry impression of the monster's gaping mouth as she plummeted headfirst into its gullet with a wet slap.

Being swallowed whole was an altogether new and extremely unpleasant experience, made all the more so when the creature's jaws clamped shut on her flailing legs. Pain exploded through both of her calves as envenomed teeth the size of spear heads punctured through her flesh and flooded her body with their agonizing toxin. Eronir hadn't been exaggerating when describing the effects of the desert monitor's venom. If Morwyn wasn't already halfway down its esophagus she might have considered jumping in of her own free will to end it. With its throat contracting as it worked to get the over-sized and struggling meal into its stomach, she couldn't even scream in pain. The muscles constricting against her face forced her breath to remain in her lungs. At the very least she couldn't inhale the vile saliva that coated her from head to toe.

Fuck, Morwyn thought.

She'd faced death by sword, by spear, by arrow, by fang and claw, by magic and mishap and a dozen other things she couldn't even recall, but never in a thousand years would she have guessed that she'd die by being eaten alive. Her arms were pinned to her sides as she slid down the squelching tunnel, unable to tell which direction was up or down, though she could vaguely sense that she was being whipped from side to side as unknown events outside caused the lizard to maneuver in a dizzying manner. Blood rushed to Morwyn's head and she could feel it pooling around her face as it ran from her nose. The burning sensation in her lungs grew stronger with every passing second and her legs convulsed as the venom tracked through her veins. Stars exploded in her vision behind her tightly closed eyelids.

Suddenly the creature gulped her down a foot or two, relaxing the muscles in its throat in order to do so, and a last, desperate hope came to her. Her body seared with immeasurable pain and her lungs screamed for air, but she managed to work the fingers of one hand around the handle of her knife before the throat constricted her again. She couldn't draw the blade yet, but if she could hold out for just a little longer...

She felt a strange, sharp impact in her left side but was too focused on her one and only mission to pay it much heed. Seconds ticked by like hours as she slithered down moist cave of the lizard's gullet against her will. Confoundingly, her thoughts drifted to her own favorite meal- reindeer sausage, plated with seasoned eggs and fresh wild vegetables. Anna always made it just the way she liked it.

Morwyn was all but unconscious when she felt the monitor rear it's head again and relax its throat to send her the rest of the way down its exceptionally long gullet. With a surge of adrenaline she yanked her knife from its sheath and poured into it every ounce of magic that she could muster. Her entire arm flooded with an icy chill and for a moment went completely numb, but with a titanic effort she managed to choke off the flow before she lost her grip on the handle of her last saving grace. Straining with all her might, Morwyn levered the knife away from her body and dragged it up toward her chest, parting flesh and bone alike with a terrible wrenching motion.

The monitor began to flail violently at the sudden and surely excruciating pain in its throat, which only served to deepen and lengthen the gash. Her knife suddenly jerked outward and she knew it had to have finally sliced through the monster's thick hide, so Morwyn put every last ounce of strength she had into dragging her blade through it an inch at a time. Her hand slipped free first, then her arm protruded out up to her shoulder and she lost her grip on her weapon. The creature's own writhing tore the wound open further and with the dregs of her energy Morwyn twisted and squeezed and wriggled until her head finally slipped through the wound and back into the night air.

She had just enough time to gasp for a single, blessed, beautiful, disgusting breath that reeked of bile and gore before one final jerking whip of the monitor's neck ejected her fully from the ragged cut and she slopped to the ground in a river of blood.

Blinded by the hot, sanguine fluid and exhausted beyond all reckoning, Morwyn simply lay there gasping for air as her body was rocked and pummeled by the monster's death throes. Even the pain of the venom was a dull afterthought as her body went into shock. She was dimly aware of Eronir shouting something as desperate hands grabbed her under the arms and dragged her away. His words were unintelligible but the sounds of his spear crunching through scales and one last gurgling hiss were unmistakable.

Shortly after the dragging ceased, she felt two sets of hands fumbling along her numb limbs though she noted it only with numb detachment. When she opened her burning eyes all she saw was blackness, though she didn't know if she was blind or if the orb of moonlight had faded, so she closed them tightly again. The ringing in her ears faded to a dull whine after a moment and though she still couldn't move she could hear her companions' desperate conversation as they probed her body.

“...didn't find any other wounds, but she could've been crushed inside that thing!”

“Internal injuries will have to wait, it's the venom that's killing her the fastest.”

“Then what do we do?! You survived this, so can she!”

“Our healer at the time was able to work up a crude antivenom, but Hazel isn't here yet and we don't have the time to carry her to the caravan-”

“Wait! Antivenom. Didn't she hand Morwyn a bunch of vials before we left? Maybe one of those could work!”

“Do you think just any of the antivenoms would do?”

A moment of heavy silence passed as someone rifled through a bag nearby. The sound of clinking glass and muttered curses reached her ears, though Morwyn knew she was fading as blood gushed from her injured calves and her body began to go rigid.

“I have no idea, but maybe we can find something close enough to keep her from dying until she can heal herself.”

“We can certainly try. I've seen her come back from worse firsthand.”

“Gods, I'm glad to hear that. Now what antidotes does she have... Basilisk? No, that's for petrification. Giant Centipede? I don't think so. Harrowing Spider... Vile Scorpion... oh! Death's Head Viper. That's a snake, right?”

“Yes, a nasty one at that. Think it's close enough?”

“Not sure we have much of a choice. Here goes...”

Even through the numbness gripping her limbs, Morwyn felt a burning pain surge through her calves as Yvonne wiped the blood from her legs with some sort of cloth and carefully administered several drops of the antidote directly into the punctures made by the monitor's teeth. The liquid sizzled and hissed on impact and if she had the breath for it. Morwyn would have screamed. At the moment all she could do was clench her teeth so hard her jaw hurt and focus on maintaining her ragged, faltering breaths.

Ever so slowly, the torment of the antidote transitioned into a spreading tingle that wormed its way through her veins as it began to counteract the venom. It wasn't potent enough to halt the damage being done entirely, but her uncontrollable shaking lessened slightly and she was able to draw deeper breaths.

“It's working! Eronir, look, it's working!”

“I can see that, but it's not enough. The rest is in her hands now.”

Morwyn felt someone lift her left hand and place it on her chest, hesitating for a moment before releasing it, then laid it back down and replaced it with her right.

“Come on, Morwyn,” Yvonne whispered urgently in her ear. “You can do this.”

When she reached for her power it felt faint and distant. Aloof, almost, as if it were watching on but unable to heed her call. Not just the Moonmother's gift, but the others as well. Even the blood, enclosed in its icy prison, seemed muted and disinterested.

Please, Morwyn politely asked the golden light. I need you. Come to me.

Her index finger twitched and Morwyn heard a sharp intake of breath from one of her companions. She could feel the flicker of warmth in her fingertip and knew that her power had responded. The connection was excruciatingly tentative, so she didn't force it out in a rush as she had done after her duel with the giant. Instead she continued to coax it out slowly, allowing the tendrils of warmth to run through her fingers, her hand, and up her arm until she finally had control of the magic.

First she directed them to her fluttering heart to fend of the ravages of the venom as it tried to still its rhythm, then sent slow waves of it washing down her body to purge the venom and gently restore her damaged veins and tissues. With each passing moment she felt the pain ebb until it finally faded into the warm and familiar ache of a wound freshly healed. After taking one more deep, shuddering breath, Morwyn wiped the thick, drying blood from her face as best she could with grimy hands and sat up.

“Oh, thank the gods!” Yvonne said in a rush as she wrapped Morwyn in a tight embrace. Eronir gave Morwyn a strained smile and laid a hand on the other elf's shoulder. “Oh, I'm sorry. That must've hurt.”

Morwyn made to reassure her but gagged on the blood in her throat, retched to one side, and drooled crimson saliva and bile onto the ground for a moment as she recovered. She felt a sharp pain in her left side again and looked down, tugging a broken off arrowhead from between the links of her bloodied chain-mail. She handed it back to its owner and Yvonne's eyes widened with shock and dismay when she realized what had happened.

“I've very recently gone through worse than a hug,” she chuckled weakly, cutting off Yvonne's impending apology for accidentally shooting her while she was being swallowed. “Water?”

Eronir offered her his canteen, which she gratefully accepted. After rinsing her mouth and throat, gargling, and spitting out the crimson result, Morwyn drank so greedily and deeply that she had to gasp for breath when she was finished. Canteen water conjured by a mysterious old man had never tasted so good as it did to her in that moment.

“Are you... are you two alright?” she asked as she handed the canteen back with shaking hands.

“Battered and bruised, but I'll live,” Eronir said grimly.

“Traumatized... again,” Yvonne muttered, but the barest hint of a smile turned up the corner of her mouth. “The sight of you carving your way out of a monster's gullet will forever haunt my nightmares.”

Morwyn nodded in understanding and struggled to rise. Each elf grabbed an arm and helped her to her feet, steadying her as she swayed for a moment. She glanced curiously at the dead monitor now visible to her in the natural moonlight and was appalled and slightly impressed by the horrendous gash that ran for nearly three feet near the base of its neck. Another foot or so and she'd have died trying to cut her way out of its chest cavity. Shaking her head in astonishment, Morwyn staggered past the massive corpse and toward the oasis pool.

“What are you doing?” Yvonne asked with concern.

“I'm going to lay in this water until I'm not red anymore,” Morwyn responded wearily. She gestured to the big, dead lizard. “When they arrive, tell the others that dinner is served. Having been on the receiving end, I don't think I'll be eating tonight. I hope Hazel is happy to try some new monster flesh.”

Hazel was, in fact, quite unhappy about the circumstance that brought a new and exotic ingredient to the table. She made her feelings about the matter quite clear during the hour she spent combing the clotted blood out of the tangled mess of Morwyn's hair while they sat together at the far end of the thoroughly contaminated pool, far away from the roaring fire and lantern lights of the company. Morwyn nodded and grumbled her acknowledgment throughout the process, though she couldn't help but smile as she watched the hungry caravaneers dig in to their hard-won dinner.