Beyond the Stars

Fallen Star - Part 3

Part 3

Xena fumbled and dropped the bolt. By the time she pulled another from the pouch, Chuck was on his stomach on the floor, scrambling to find purchase in the loose dirt. The creature had a firm grip of his ankle, pulling him backwards. Chuck rolled over and kicked it as hard as he could on the lower jaw. It reared back with a yelp before plunging forward, aiming for Chuck's throat. He was able to deflect the horn enough to avoid serious injury, but the cut in his shoulder, where the spike scratched him, stung like a bitch.

He pulled his knees up to his chest and kicked out, propelling the creature into the steps.

The creature's head snapped up at the sound of a growl from somewhere behind us. It took one last, assessing look at Chuck before darting off into the darkness on the opposite side of the cavern. I turned slowly, fearful for what I would find there. It had to be something big to scare off tick-man. Xena's eyes met mine. I could see she was just as scared as I was, yet she loaded her last bolt into the crossbow and took aim with a steady hand.

I placed my hand on her arm to still her movements as a creature, one that looked like a hairless dog, turned to face us and sniff the air. Drool dripped in long strands from its open mouth; its long, pointed teeth exposed by curled back lips. With no eyes to see us, the creature relied on scent and sound to locate its prey. It sniffed the air again. Its narrow, serpent-like tongue darted out between the prominent incisors. Ignoring us, it wandered over to Chuck and licked his hand, tasting him before moving away with its nose to the ground in the same direction as the tick-man.

"Jesus, that was close," Chuck said with obvious relief. "What in Hell were those things?"

"Caparra." None of us had noticed the woman's approach. "Dangerous. Ciegona destroy caparra." She motioned us to follow her. "Come."

From what I could make out from her chatter as we followed closely behind, her accent was very odd. Despite having travelled to almost every civilised country in the world, I couldn't place it. The closest I could guess was a mix between Spanish and German. Her ash-blonde hair was more in keeping with Swedish and her tiny frame inherent in the population of southern Asia.

She threw the power switch as soon as we entered Dean's chamber, plunging us into darkness. "Close portal. No caparra come."

"Wait, caparra is the thing with the horn on its head right? Where did it come from? I've never seen anything like it before," Chuck asked as he set his torch on the table beside the bed to afford us some light.

"Come from my world." She took a pack of cigarettes from her pocket and lit one, closing her eyes in apparent ecstasy as she inhaled then released the smoke in a steady stream from her nose. "Where Dean? He bring more?" she asked after a brief moment, holding the pack up.

I waved my hand in front of my face, wafting away the smoke. "Those things will kill you. I'm surprised at Dean if he's been supplying you with them. You know they're full of toxins?"

Her eyes glowed fiery-red with the glare she shot at me. "Where Dean?"

Xena had been unusually quiet since we left the cavern. At the edge of my vision, I saw her look the visitor up and down. "I'll bring them in exchange for these." She held out a handful of rock and used her torch to best emphasise the murky-red glow within.

The visitor shrugged and nodded. "Dean want also."

I sighed. "Dean is dead. I think one of those horned creatures killed him." She frowned, trying to decipher my words. "It must have been the caparra that attacked Dean, the mark on his throat matches the one on Jasper. What I don't understand is how he ended up in a sewer a hundred kilometres away? Unless one attacked him in the sewer."

"Hang on a minute," said Chuck, rubbing the wound on his shoulder that was still bleeding profusely. "Are you trying to tell me there's another one of those things on the loose?"

I nodded.

"I'm outta here. No way I'm hanging around if there's more."

No amount of pleading on the Xena wannabe's part could persuade him to stay. And with no alternative means of transport, it meant we were leaving too. The visitor insisted that we close the portal after she crossed over. We couldn't afford to have yet more of the creatures running around, so Chuck reluctantly agreed to wait in Dean's chamber until we returned from the cavern with a weapon the visitor promised would destroy them.