Five Little Sacrifices

Chapter 101

"How interesting", Rufus hummed curiously. "The animals must see the light differently than us. Otherwise it wouldn't matter to them if it was daylight or light from these trees when they come out."

Suddenly the ground started shaking and they hardly managed to back away, when suddenly something big and flat rose from the ground right on front of them. They heard how hard scales were rattling against each other and dozens of long sharp legs were moving.

It was a large centipede which back was covered with tree moss, making it completely camouflage on the ground when lying down still.

"Scatter!" Rufus shouted and Freed grabbed Felix, them all jumping away when the creature attacked down and hit the ground where they had just been standing, making rocks shatter and crumble.

Freed quickly used teleportation and they appeared on top of one of the tall rock peaks, high enough from ground so the centipede couldn't reach to them without climbing up. Long and thin antennas swished upward and they flashed on yellow light like filled with sparks of electricity. The big body turned instantly and the arthropod headed towards Rufus who was closest.

"Memory Make: Ice Bow", Rufus said rising his arms and a bow made out of ice formed on his hold. "Freezing Arrow", he said and let go of the thin string.

The arrow appeared in the middle of the air and once it hit the centipede, it instantly froze the spot it hit. The sudden attack made the creature stop and let out a screeching sound. More arrows followed, this time aiming to the legs still on the ground and immediately freezing those they hit. Now fragile because of ice, the legs couldn't carry the weight of the centipede and with a huge crash the monster hit the ground when it lost it's support under it.

"My turn!" Toby said growing out his green claws. "Super Paralysis Claw!" the man roared when he jumped on the centipede, hitting his claws down.

The tree moss got ripped off as Toby swished his claws and saw the dark shell under all of it. Once his claws hit it, they barely left a scratch behind. He almost fell over when the centipede got up with the remaining legs it still had and was still focused on Rufus.

"You're ignoring me!" Toby yelled annoyed.

"Toby!" Freed shouted. "Hit between the shells!"

"Between? Oh! That's right!" Toby laughed when uncovering more of the shell and he found a spot where two shell plates were joint. "I bet you're gonna notice me now! Hyper Sea Wasp Stinger!" he shouted spreading his fingers and the whole hand glowed dark green, creating what looked like one big stinger.

It sunk deep in the flesh between the shells. Instantly the venom spread around and the arthropod suddenly curled backwards like it was in immense pain. Toby smirked and quickly got out of the way as the centipede was left squirming on the ground.

"Is it dead?" Felix asked and he was almost holding his breath, his eyes wide.

"At least not yet", Freed said and he jumped down a few rocks from the top of the stalagmite. "But it's now our chance to get away."

Rufus and Toby quickly joined them and they all ran away from the monster that kept squirming and letting out screeches. To avoid maybe encountering more of those centipedes, they chose a path where there were less those glowing trees so they could see if anything tried to hide from their sight.

Once they didn't hear noises anymore, they stopped for a moment to evaluate the situation.

"Are we safe now?" Felix asked as Freed finally let go of him.

"I bet that thing won't come after us again!" Toby laughed. "It knows it would be a very bad idea!"

His laughing got cut when suddenly a spear hit the ground almost right in front of him, making him fall. Freed and Rufus frowned looking at the direction where the spear came from, seeing taller stalagmite cliffs and there were a little bit less lily pads growing around.

"Up there", Rufus said and Freed noticed it too.

Something was standing up there. Or... Someone? The distance and lack of light made it difficult to see who their enemy was, but considering they got attacked by a man-made spear, it had to be a person. Freed heard how a few little rocks dripped down and he glanced around.

"There's more of them", he muttered.

There were maybe dozen of them, scattered around them on higher grounds and looking at them. They all had weapons, who was holding a spear and who had a bow. But they were definitely not normal humans.

The one who threw the spear towards them started to walk down, his delicate looking hooves scraping the cliff as he moved without any hurry. He had almost like glowing silver fur and his antlers grew up high, filled with leafs and flowers like it was a crown made for a great spirit of nature.

The man stopped not far from them obviously staying on alert all the time, but he wasn't making any movements to show he might attack. Above the waist he looked like a human, but below the waist he had a strong body of a deer with long legs.

Freed had read about centaurs, but he had never heard of a centaur who was half deer instead of a horse.

"Are you mages from Earth Land?" the man asked. His voice was deep and his black eyes were inspecting them all.

"We are", Freed said. "You know about Earth Land?"

"We know, though we don't know much about it. There are humans called mages there who take contact with us sometimes."

"Mages who can use Netherworld Magic", Freed nodded. "We don't use that kind of magic ourselves, we were tossed here by one who does use it, though."

"So I've heard. We have found some of your fellows walking around here."

"Are they okay?" Felix asked worried and the big deer centaur looked down at the boy. His features got a bit softer.

"We haven't attacked them", he assured. "So don't be afraid. Earlier this evening we found a man who uses name Elfman and he was accompanied by another man, a woman and two children."

"It must be Vellanja and Chester!" Felix gasped.

"For someone who isn't planning to attack, throwing a spear isn't really the most friendliest way to greet", Rufus said and he was just a little bit skeptic.

"It wasn't meant to hit any of you", the man assured. "It was to alert you we're here but without any of us getting closer to each other before we knew the situation was calm enough for us to do so."

"It was a bit surprising..." Toby murmured.

"Are Elfman and others with you now?" Freed asked ignoring Toby. "Can we meet with them?"

"I understood that we all have the same enemy on these grounds. We're not yet sure if we're going to trust you all, but we won't attack those who have children with them. My name is Ilanyish. We can go together where your friends are and then we will talk more", Ilanyish said and he pulled up his spear, turning around.

"What should we do?" Rufus whispered to Freed who hummed.

"For now I think we should follow them", the rune mage said, looking how other deer centaurs moved to follow after Ilanyish as well. "If nothing else, at least we'll find Elfman and others."