Calm and Calamity

Chapter 10

Taking one swaggering step after the other, the giant grey wolf towered over the black hound. He cocked his head up, letting out a howl that resonated in the air, causing the air and the blades of grass beneath him to shake. Corinna and Calixte held on desperately to Reggie's fur, almost falling off. After a long moment of silence, the wolf glared back down at the cowering black hound. With a high-pitched yelp, the hound scampered away, up the slope and out of sight.

A smile spread across Corinna's lips. This was it. They could do this. They could them all out. Every single one of them. Her smile disappeared. She shook her head, trying not to let those thoughts dominate her mind. They were not here to fight. They were here to get food.

Clearing her throat, Corinna raised her spear. "Let's go!"

Reggie gave an affirmatory bark and bounded up the slope.

At the top, Corinna saw the banshee swirling and hovering above the ground, screeching and shrieking as it dove down near its enemies. With the earmuffs, Corinna, Calixte, and Reggie were protected from being deafened; however, they could not prevent from hearing the shrill and petrifying screams of the spectre.

"Thank you for attending Section 39," the voice of the announcer boomed across the Eternal Abyss as the scarlet moon above them opened up into a blood-shot eye gazing down at the prisoners. "The food drop-off will-"

The voice was drowned out by the stampede of feet, paws, hooves, and the screams of monsters echoing. Even before the portal had opened and the food packets dropped through, everyone was charging towards the centre of the stone circle. Ahead, in front of all the others, was the giantess, undeterred by the plummeting food packets. Following behind it was the hunchback dragging its overgrown slab of flesh of a hand across the grass, barely flinching and perhaps not even noticing the falling packets hitting its body.

Corinna pointed with her spear to the forming pile of food in the centre, her eyes narrowing as a grin spread across her lips. "Let's go get 'em!"

Reggie bounded towards the middle. Above of them, the portal in the sky closed as the last food packet had dropped. The giantess scooped up a handful of food packets only for them to tumble out of its hands as the minotaur charged and swung with its hammer, causing the giantess to stumble and step upon the hunchback.

Its eyes suddenly enlarging, the hunchback lifted its hulking arms and clobbered the giantess, knocking its own ally down to the ground. With the blood moon affecting the monsters' minds, the minotaur, giantess, and the hunchback engaged into a free-for-all, the giantess' clumsy steps squashing a few of the food packets.

"Now's our chance!" yelled Corinna as Reggie continued to charge towards the middle.

His ears flinched as they all heard the sound of galloping heading towards them.

"Look out!"

Skidding across the grass, the giant wolf managed to evade being impaled by the headless horseman's lance. Regaining his balance, Reggie turned to snarl at the knight.

Remembering back to when she had been trampled by their assailant, Corinna held desperately onto Reggie's fur, not wanting to have to repeat the experience. But then something inside of her snapped like a lock opening, allowing something to escape and flood out into her mind. She remembered the pain of her bruised and broken body, the fear that she could have lost her memories in that moment... all because of him. The knight that had caused all that was right in front of her. Her eyes glanced over to the food pile but that no longer mattered to her. A grin spread across her face as she raised her spear, prepared to strike.

*

Calixte groaned and rubbed his forehead as he stumbled up. His eyes darted around and saw Corinna still riding on the giant wolf's back, battling the headless horseman. It appeared that she had not even noticed that Calixte had fallen off earlier. His webbed hands were unable to hold onto Reggie's fur so easily.