VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, [8], 9, 10 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 00:45:00 12/19/01 Wed
Author: Tristan and Laurel
Subject: Almost over?
In reply to: Barry 's message, "Out of the frying pan and into the fire" on 19:45:01 12/18/01 Tue

The creature’s initial shriek of pain at losing a tentacle to Marz’s sword almost knocked Tristan senseless. A second later, he blinked and stared at the sword in his own hand, suddenly remembering how it had gotten there. He felt something tugging at the chain around his wrist, but before he could glance downward, another giant tentacle licked out, wrapping around his chest and slowly pulling him forward.

With the hand still clutching his sword, Tristan sliced through the appendage, making the monster give another shrill cry of pain and outrage. Immediately, he ducked underwater and began hacking at the one currently wrapped around Marz, who was beating and tugging furiously on the underwater chain. Even beneath the surface of the water, the telltale crack of one of Marz’s ribs breaking echoed dimly in Tristan’s ears, his eyes blazing an eerie red with fury as he redoubled his attack against the muscular tentacle.

Panic lanced through his chest as the creature seized Marz’s arm, causing him to drop his sword. Tristan grabbed wildly for him, but the strong tentacle dragged his lover deeper underwater and out of his grasp. Rather stupidly, he cried out Marz’s name, his lungs filling in immediately with water, choking him and suffocating him until he was forced to resurface again.

“Marz!” he cried again, the desperation in his voice make him sound like a madman. Suddenly, he did seem to go crazy, as he turned to the chain and began kicking it savagely, yanking his arm hard against the iron manacle until he eventually sprained his wrist. That didn’t stop him, and he started to slam his beloved sword against the chains, causing yellow sparks to fly underwater in his panicked fury.

He was so wrapped up in trying to free himself so he could dive after Marz that he’d almost totally forgotten about the monster itself. He was rather surprised to feel something cold and slimy wrap around his chest once again, and begin pulling much harder than before. For a moment, he was back underwater, fighting for his breath as he tried to wrestle his way out of the things grasp. Briefly, he opened his eyes against the brackish water and saw a woman—Isobel!—hacking at the tentacle around Marz and pulling him away to safety.

Somehow, he managed to resurface, and turning with a savage snarl, Tristan rammed the point of his sword into the tentacle, the muscles shivering and contracting as the limb was stabbed through and through. When he yanked his blade free, the tentacle unwrapped itself and retracted, oozing a sickening brownish color in its watery wake. He was exhausted beyond belief, and could barely keep his head above water. Sluggishly, he turned as a loud splash resounded to his right, his eyes widening as Erlic swam strongly towards him. Despite the fact that Marz had had such a hell of a time with it, the older man had him free in no time at all. The pain that lanced up his arm as his sprained wrist was free made him slightly dizzy, but he hastily choked out a thank you to Erlic.

Both of them turned as fast as they could and hauled themselves out of the water, Tristan immediately running for Marz. He knelt down beside him, still out of breath but nearly passing out with relief that he was apparently okay. That’s when he remembered their nakedness. His cheeks turned bright red, even though most of the others were still preoccupied with the others, and he got to his feet again to grab the closest pair of pants. His own had been mostly destroyed by the crazy women, so he suspected the ones he was tugging on were either Marz’s or Corum’s.

On his way back, he yanked a cloak off one of the shivering women, giving her a fierce growl, and hurried back to Marz, throwing the garment around him. Quite suddenly, his relief hit him once again, even more fiercely, and for a minute he could barely speak, so overcome with the thought of what could have just happened.

“You’re okay, then?” he asked, wiping angrily at his eyes, unhappy as always to be showing such emotion in public.


Laurel and Rowan both looked up in alarm as the screaming reverberated from one of the cave mouths. After sharing a worried glance, they leapt to their feet and followed closely on the heels of Erlic, Isobel, and the others. The sight that greeted them was enough to take Laurel’s breath away.

“Sweet Lady,” she breathed, reaching out to grip her brother’s arm. “It’s a kraken!”

“What the hell are they doing keeping one of those in here?” Rowan growled, drawing both his swords in one rapid motion. Laurel tried to survey the scene around her, wondering how she might best be of aid to those in need. The others were all doing their best to either save their companions or hurl weapons at the monster, but it looked like the battle was something of a draw. The kraken sustained numerous injuries, yet showed no signs of backing down, let alone dying.

Quite suddenly, she knew just what to do. For once, she didn’t pause to wonder at her own abilities, nor to question whether she even had the stamina to do what she needed to do. Instead, she stepped boldly forward and held both hands up to the lake, her green eyes flashing.

“Aquae, fluete tibi!” she cried, spreading both arms wide as if she were trying to rip the air apart. The waters of the lake gave a great, heaving sigh as waves suddenly erupted to toss Corum and Tia, the only ones left in the water, toward the shore, Tia managing to break free from the tentacle holding her ankle. Once the two were far enough away from the kraken, Laurel gathered her strength, both physical and magical, and held her hand, palm open, toward the lake once again. She hesitated, however, and changed her mind at the last moment, shifting her aim to the stalactites that hung above the monster.

“Cadete!” she muttered. “Cade, cade, cade!” Slowly, the mighty pieces of rock dislodged from the cavern ceiling with great groans, falling silently through the air before splashing loudly into the waters of the lake. Several pierced through the kraken, making it scream with such intense agony that everyone was momentarily deafened.

Before she could think of finishing the monster off (if that weren’t enough), a wave of weariness coursed through her body, and she stumbled to her knees on the stone floor. The others will have to handle it, now, she admitted to herself as she slowly stood again. Some yelling a little ways behind her made her turn around, and she smiled tiredly to see Barry stuck in a rock crevice.

“You fought bravely, yes?” she asked, pulling the skull out and teasing him with a hug. From the corner of her eye, she saw Rowan lift Tia and carry her farther inland, where he laid her down on the floor. The girl didn’t look unconscious, though she must surely be very close to it.

“Tia,” she heard him murmur, “If you were a princess in one of those romances I could kiss you awake again.” The sad attempt at humor made Laurel frown for her brother’s sake. “Oh, Tia!” he continued, sounding more desperate. “Don’t be hurt! Open your pretty eyes and tell me you’ll be okay...."

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

Forum timezone: GMT-6
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.