There was a brief, almost ridiculous hesitation as the Bli paused to catch its breath, bony chest heaving. Its distended stomach looked close to bursting, and the Bli tried several times to take to the air. Its tiny wings whirred, the Bli achieved a few inches of lift before its swaying stomach dragged it back down.
Katlyn, who had witnessed more horror in the past hour than most would in their lives, stifled a laugh. The Bli snapped its jaws at her, more out of frustration than malice as it tried once more to peel itself from the cave floor. Its attempts were met only with failure, for the Bli's stomach remained resolutely landbound as immovable as a nearby stalagmite.
Katlyn was duly amused by this; she mimicked the Bli's expression of pained dismay, pulling long faces and sniggering when it hissed in response.
To kill the Bli now would be ridiculously easy, she thought, while it lay prone, a victim of its own gluttony.
Katlyn took two steps forward, fingers tapping hesitantly on the knife's hilt. But what of her previous attempt? She had heard the knife enter the Bli's bony chest, saw presently the black puncture there. A supposedly mortal wound. And yet the Bli was alive and well, if not a bit stuffed and winded.
Katlyn took two steps more, this time with greater conviction. Yes, perhaps the Bli lacked a heart to stab, for it was a soulless emissary of the devil. But no creature could survive without a head, and so Katlyn would hack the Bli's off without pause.
The Bli in question surely sensed her intent, for it snivelled and whined most piteously, akin to a wretched child out in the cold. A revolting and naked child, to be sure, but one that inspired sympathy. The Bli's arms were clasped loosely about itself, eyes wide and innocent, lower lip jutting in an absurd pout.
Soft hearts would've liked to imagine that Katlyn felt some semblance of pity for the Bli, recognizing that it was merely a slave to its baser instincts and appetites.
On the contrary; she sent a sharp pebble into the Bli's ribs with a deft flick of the foot.
It abruptly dropped the sobbing child act, instead displaying all its needle-teeth in a wicked leer. The Bli brandished its curved claws, shoulder blades jutting like teeth under soft, white skin.
Katlyn crossed the final few metres with brisk, long, strides. She saw Erin's face in her mind. Grass-green eyes, rendered blank and lifeless.
The Bli smiled wider still-
Katlyn swung her knife.
-grinning even when its head went bouncing away. The Bli's decapitated body was still somewhat upright, limbs splayed grotesquely.
And one of its claws had slipped treacherously between Katlyn's ribs. She stared at it uncomprehendingly for a moment, hearing a wet gurgle with every breath she took. Katlyn's knife fell leadenly to the ground with a metallic clatter. This was followed by the softer sound of a body crumpling and also falling to the floor.
Katlyn lay there awhile, listening to the sound of her own faltering heartbeat. Outside the cave, dawn must have broken, for the darkness was gradually lightening and faint birdsong could be heard. Her last thought was of Erin, and then she sank gratefully into grass-green silence.
