40. Cup of What? #2
‘Later, let’s take care of the capradilla first, then we’ll toast with friends.’
“Can I at least know your name so I can stop referring to you as the ‘white netherwraith’ inside my head?” I call out before it takes off again.
I hear a feminine chuckle before the word ‘Devinyx.’
“Okay, Devinyx,” I repeat. “I like it,” I reply.
‘Good, because I wasn’t changing it for you,’ she sasses before taking off towards the broken trees.
“Damn, Moni. You must have exploded, or that thing is huge.” I take in the devastation in front of us, and it’s Chester who turns white.
“It’s huge,” he says before jogging after Devinyx.
I can’t help but picture the cabaybaras I’ve seen on my phone.
The cute mammal, over-sized beaver-like rodents.
Yes, they can come up to my knees, but they aren’t that huge to make a mess like this.
As we run up to a bend in the river, JP, Levi, Ryker, Zeke, Knots, and Lynx join us before I skid to a stop and almost fall into a flooded area of water that I’m sure shouldn’t be here.
There are more leaves and twigs floating on top of the water than one would expect, and about twenty feet away from the riverbed, where it should be. What is going on?
‘Who has long-range weapons? Identify yourself, and we’ll move you to the trees,’ Devinyx calls out, and JP and Levi are quickly plucked up by tentacles and moved to vantage points along the blocked river.
The fucking oversized beaver-like rodent I was just praising is sitting in the river, flooding the area with the displaced water, and right behind him is the damn portal we need.
On the other bank are a few other students who look as if they are arguing instead of planning the best technique to take this monster on.
Dumbasses. Maybe they will get their shit together and help, but I don’t have time to worry about them. We have a 50-foot prickly river rat the size of a tree blocking my way out of here.
Knots takes to the sky with his wings and draws the attention of the capradilla as the netherwraiths run to its rear and focus on its quills.
Their pads whip out and pluck the rat with a swiftness that if I blink, I would miss as quills go flying into the river and the capradilla screams either in pain or frustration.
I know frustration hits me as I wait for that elusive voice in my head to speak up, looking for a way to help as I stand on the sideline doing absolutely nothing.
‘Where are you? Aren’t you here to help?’ I growl out in frustration. I at least pull on my magic, feel it coming more easily to me, and, feeling stronger, I throw up shields around my group. They might be thin, but at least it’s something; it’s more than the voice in my head that’s doing nothing.
Once the quills are pulled, Devinyx announces that the defense is down and that we can attack.
‘Defense? What about the damn tail?’ Lynx retorts.
Slayer chuckles. ‘It’s not like we can take off the tail.’
‘Where the hell have you been?’ I huff.
‘Sorry, babygirl. As you can see, I’ve been busy,’ he says as I catch a quick glimpse of him sliding across the back of the capa before disappearing.
Of course he’s been busy. He’s in his element, where Netherwraiths are from: the Fae realm.
‘Oh, he’s putting in double the work, Rezzi-bear,’ Lynx mutters.
‘Huh?’ What do you mean? I ask, needing clarification.
‘He has a fan club. Check out the purple nurple cat following him,” Lynx points out, and sure enough, I catch sight of one sleeking by him. ‘She’s throwing off enough longing to ring a dinner bell to all the singles in the realm, but she only has eyes for Slayer.’
‘What?’ the voice in my head growls as I feel a flash of heat over my body.
Oh yeah, now you start talking.
‘It’s nothing, babygirl. She’s never seen such a fine specimen, that's all. She’s window shopping,’ Slayer hedges and gently shuts down that communication.
Anger flashes from a deeper recess in me, and I feel torn.
I know, logically, he’s my mate, and of course, others have the right to look, but instinctively, that little green monster wants to sprout claws.
That familiar need to let go and let my body get lost in the anger and take it out on my enemy rides me hard, and I almost do it.
But there’s a gentle caress against my magic that feels like home, that keeps me grounded.
Knox.
I listen to the voice, guiding me on what to cut on the capardilla to weaken it, but I don’t fall into the oblivion that calls to me.
I work side by side with the other Netherwraiths as we move around the surprisingly agile river rat.
The students from the other bank finally decide to join in and help take this thing down, and I suddenly feel like I’m in a live-active game doing a Dungeon or Raid where we have so many people that I can’t keep track of who’s who anymore.
We only know there’s one bad guy and everyone needs to hit him and take him down.
Magic hits it, our weapons cut into its skin, and the netherwraiths make it bleed, but the enemy still fights back, and I’m losing motivation, and to be honest, hope.
‘Where’s the weakest part of this damn thing?’ I ask the voice in my head, taking a step back and reassessing as a netherwraith cries out as the capa rips a tentacle loose with its teeth.
‘Weakest point is its throat, but we can not reach it, and it’s inadvisable,’ she says with warning, but I get a wicked idea as I reach out to JP, who has joined the fight on the ground again.
Without a second thought, he relays my plan, and in the blink of an eye, I watch Moni yell out a warrior cry as she flies straight for the Capardilla, and when it opens its mouth to bite Moni, she shrinks and gets swallowed.
‘Did she— Did she just get swallowed? On purpose?’ Knots asks, but before anyone can answer, the capradilla jerks back and suddenly starts to gag. Its throat begins to bloat like the vocal sac of a frog before exploding, decapitating the capardilla.
As the head crashes to the ground, a voice calls out. “Um, Levi, can I get a clean up on aisle throat? It’s quite messy up here,” Moni says, brushing the bigger chunks off of her.
“No problem, as long as I don’t have to clean that up,” Levi says, pointing to the bloody body of the capardilla, which Reaper is already tearing at.
Hmm. I was wondering where he ran off to. I guess I don’t have to worry about feeding him tonight.
‘Come, we need to keep moving. There will be bigger predators that will come for the meat of the fallen, and it’s not safe to travel after dark. There is a place to rest on the other side for the night,’. Devinyx says, moving toward the portal.
“Bigger predators than the river rat from Giants R’ Us? This place is crazy,” Lynx shakes his head in disbelief.
“Come on, Reaper.” I grab him as he growls and rips off a chunk of meat with him. “Let’s go see what else awaits us in Fae’s version of Hell.”