They Come To Feed

Chapter 9

The attack came late in the night. The boma did little to thwart the many-limbed demons; they climbed or leaped over it, but in most places they simply tore through it with surprising ease. At the first sounds of commotion, Freyja and Grimm rushed from their hut, cutlasses in hand. Grimm spotted a monster engaged with Tristero. Grimm charged, slashing at the beast's tentacles while the captain hurled a boarding axe into the monster's pulpy core. Tendrils flailed aggressively and it was only Grimm's incredible speed and relentless counterattack that saved him from the venomous lash of alien feelers.
Tristero was not so quick. His bull strength had protected him at the onset of the conflict, but now the creature bore down on him. He tried to beat it back with his cutlass, but a whip-like tentacle wound about his wrist. An involuntary bellow of pain escaped him as the caustic toxin did its work. Grimm renewed his attack, trying to draw the star-spawn away. It was too late; its tendrils mutilated Tristero beyond recognition.
The monster tried to carry the dying man away into the jungle, but Grimm would not relent, and at last it dropped the captain's tortured body and escaped into the night.
The battle raged all around; there would be time for grief later. Grimm ran to defend two small children and their screaming mother, beating a second star-spawn back.
Freyja found herself fighting side by side with a Gambusi warrior, before the hide door of N'tibi's hut. The old woman was beside her, chanting a prayer-spell to the Loa, swinging a staff of polished black wood. The staff seemed to crackle and a bolt of blue fire seemed to reach out to the star-spawn. The creature winced, and drew away from the old woman. Suddenly, it seemed to lunge at the Gambusi fighter, its jaws clamping down upon his arm near the shoulder and tearing clean away from his body. He was dead before he even hit the ground.
Freyja rolled and picked up the spear the dead Gambusi had dropped. As she lifted it she thought she saw N'tibi's hand reach out and touch the spearhead with a blue flame, but then she caught sight of the old woman, and young M'boto, many feet away, running toward the forest surrounded by what seemed an azure glow.
The monster turned on her, its mouth snapped open, revealing rows upon rows of triangular teeth. Freyja snapped the spear forward, straight into the thing's gaping mouth. There was a flash of bluish flame, like a lightning bolt, and an acrid smell of ozone. The star-spawn recoiled and seemed momentarily frozen.
Freyja did not stand idle, waiting for the beast to recover and renew its assault. She ran for the forest, and when she crossed into its verge, she began zigzagging between the enormous boles, in hopes of confusing her pursuer. She could hear it crashing through the underbrush somewhere behind and to her right. She continued on, changing direction often, moving with the stealth of a snow leopard.
Then she found it, quite by accident—a stony hillock with a crevice, a small cave whose entrance was littered with small boulders. She squeezed herself down into the crack, pulling the boulders into the entrance as best she could. Exhaustion clawed at her body and mind, dragging her down into a fitful sleep.

When the morning sun began to filter its way between chinks in the makeshift stone door to Freyja's hiding place, she pushed the rocks out of the way and stood and stretched, working out the cramps that wracked her body. Knocking the dust from her earthy-coloured garb, she adjusted her sword belt and set off toward the village.
The Gambusi settlement was in a shambles. Many lay dead or badly injured, and more still were missing. With unspeakable relief, Freyja saw Grimm alive, but with a look of terrible grief written upon his handsome face. He was piling stones into a makeshift cairn on the outskirts of the village. She knew from his pained look who lay beneath those stones. The ever ebullient Tristero had been Grimm's friend.
When Grimm saw Freyja, his face broke into a grim and awkward smile. He said nothing, he merely pulled Freyja close, brushed back the sable-coloured tresses from her forehead with a dusty hand, and kissed her tenderly. He held her for a very long time. Both were silent, then at last, he led her by the hand to their hut.