***** Author's Note *****
I am terribly sorry about the posting delay. The writer's block is still giving me a bit of trouble, but I am getting past it!
Don't want to wait for more? Now Available! Read up to Chapter 80 on my discord! Link in my bio!
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75
Alaesia lunged.
If she could just manage to grab the iron bolt that Ammatar had cast to the floor at her feet, then maybe, she prayed, she might be able to fend off the wriggling vines of the serpentine creature. Her fingers clasped only through empty air, as the beast slung the loop of its body upwards, taking the captured woman right up with it and out of reach of the weapon. The walls and ceiling of the mound creaked in resistance as Ammatar's forms threatened to burst from the narrow confines of stone; an eggshell to be easily cracked. The structural pillars that sectioned the chambers within were being pushed to their limits, waiting to give way.
The rattle and hiss of Ammatar's fury coursed as an omnipresent invasion through the leaves themselves. It was as if he had become one with the forest itself, a gaping green maw of insatiable hunger, that would have this orc-tainted human know its judgment. His voice penetrated Alaesia's mind and ears while she clung helplessly to the tree-bark scales and moss-lined skin that held her aloft, "Sssleep in shadow, wilt-ed one. Grieve not under orcish claw, no more ssspawn of evil make you. Redeem-ed in death are you, to feed my beastsss!"
"I-I'm not y-your enemy! Please! Just l-Let me go and I'll leave y-your forest!" Alaesia tried to insist, but it was hopeless; Ammatar was as unmoved by her plea as a boulder in the course of a river.
She felt the mass gripping her shift and twist, raising her higher towards the gap in the ceiling, towards the waiting jaws of the warg pup that stalked the rim of the gap, eagerly, but hesitantly, awaiting the prize Ammatar had for it. Alaesia tried her best to sink into the greenery holding her, but closer and closer it carried her towards the light and opening. The disheveled, young beast's eyes were alight, with hunger and a foul spark of poison green magic that glazed the creature's eyes; that was a glow she was becoming terribly familiar with. No doubt, just as Zathra held sway over others, it seemed so too did Ammatar. Even wild beasts were subjugated to the forest serpent's influence...
That's it! Her inner voice screamed, still searching hopelessly for the damned connection between her mind and the smart-mouthed orc. Zathra! The warg! Your dream!
If he could hear her at all, so too was the silent plight intercepted by the snake's cunning attunement. The massive head of the forest spirit swung around, jaw stretching wide and needling fangs erected in a threat. The serpent's tongue lashed the air in anger, and his seething echoed across the ceiling. The voice slithered through her ears like an ear-rupturing shriek, "Lies! Deceit! Weaving webs, sewn like spider brooding! Call the name of foul Eldon! Ally of blackish, stolen magic, have proven you! Deep is the taint, purged must be you!"
However, even as he presented her upwards, magic could do little to suppress the ingrained instincts of prey in the presence of its own predator. The warg pup cowered away when Ammatar had brought himself face to face with the human; too close for comfort it seemed, even for the young predator. It refused, pushing back against the green spark of magic, to enter the greater threat's space; which only served to anger Ammatar more, "FEAST, STUPID BEASSST! FEASSST!"
The snake wasn't expecting anything to put up a proper fight, he held all the sway and power after all! That was until a set of jaws latched onto his throat with a mighty snap. Ammatar bucked backwards with a garbled scream, trying to rip himself free, but only serving to slam into a column with all of his weight. The coils of plant matter that had bound Alaesia were suddenly loosed and sent wild around in the throes of chaos to deter the unexpected assailant, of whom she only barely caught a glimpse as she tumbled down the snake's body, back to the floor of the mound.
Maybe it was the threat posed to its younger, last-remaining packmate, that had made the ragged form of the gray warg attack. Or maybe it was the vivid blue glow pouring from the beast's throat, eyes, nose, and the gaping wound in its flank!
Yes! Alaesia felt a shock of relief flood her stomach. She almost was afraid to believe it; Zathra had heard her! She knew she didn't have time to question anything. She hit the ground hard, but adrenaline thankfully dampened the impact; undoubtedly she would feel the effects later if she survived, that was.
The gray beast's muscled jaws locked and tore Ammatar's throat, causing something like sap to start pouring down the length of his corded neck. Its claws raked deep into the earthy flesh, causing plant matter to snap and slough away like broken branches. The moment Ammatar's body came close to seizing it, the warg deftly threw itself out of the way, then renewed its assault with vigor.
The iron bolt lay where it had been discarded, and with Ammatar's attention divided, Alaesia had the perfect opportunity to snatch it up. It might only be of little help to her now, for how heavy it was, but the modicum of defense it might provide was the only reassurance she had for the time being... Or perhaps... She paused briefly. Bolt in one hand, she hurried to salvage and sift through the plants littering the floor with the other. The pervasiveness of one, in particular, might prove to be her savior, if what Zathra had told her of its properties was to be believed. Tucking her prize, a handful of Mokob-hai berries, into a makeshift pocket of folds between tunic and belt, she searched the shadows of the cavernous room once more. She needed to find the exit of the structure, for the battle of the beasts behind her only rose to a far more vicious clamor.
Whips of vines and branches flung back and forth, the tail of the snake, cracking against the mound like thunder. The coils sprung up and wide, seeking to capture the great, gray warg. However, the initial strike of clamping on Ammatar's jugular had served to distract and sever his magic hold on the smaller brown pup, and it was emboldened by the actions of its elder packmate. The young beast launched itself down into the mound, landing with a weighty thud as all of its bulk brought Ammatar's jaw slamming to the ground. It joined in the frenzy of claws and teeth, gnashing and tearing into the snake, as Alaesia rushed to scamper away from the path of the battle's destruction.
Two wargs moving in coordinated tandem quickly overwhelmed the startled serpent, and Ammatar could only flee in an effort to regroup himself. The pup's smaller teeth snapped at his flank and tail as Ammatar forced himself deeper into the recesses of the chamber, creeping over rocks and between pillars to the differing sections. With a heavy slam of his tail, the snake crushed a pillar to cover his retreat, sending thick blocks of carved stone crashing down behind him. It served well as a deterrent to the wargs, both of which leapt back to avoid being crushed by the cascade of debris.
Alaesia watched nervously as the pair of wargs scratched at the blockade, before turning toward her. If they meant to redirect their hunt, whether or not the pale blue glow in the larger one's eyes truly meant Zathra had answered her call, she wasn't about to roll over and take it. Their thick hackles were raised, as she hefted the iron bolt towards them in a meager defense, while Ammatar's voice started circling her again, "DEATH! DEATH! CARNAGE AND BETRAYAL! POISSSONED THE BEAST'SSS MIND HAVE YOU!"
Alaesia tracked the sound as it seemed to rise above her head, spying a faint movement in the plants draping down from above, before the glint of Ammatar's eyes gave him away. She heaved the bolt's hammer-forged spear-tip upright at the same moment the giant snake's head reappeared through the greenery, and struck down at her with lightning-quick speed. However, the gray warg was faster.
As if the wolven beast had predicted the snake's approach, it launched itself forward, clamping its teeth both around the iron bolt and Alaesia's hand at the same time. In the split second of the snake snapping at its prey, the warg barreled through, charging and dragging Alaesia away from the seeking jaws of the serpent.
Alaesia could barely scream as the beast forcibly dragged her across the chamber, as rocks and plants tore at her sides and back. Everything started to blur until all she could do was cover her head and face to brace against the onslaught. Ammatar's voice screeched and hissed in fury at his prey's flight, but the warg pup took the opportunity to snap and rip a great section of flesh from the monster's hide before it too made a break for freedom.
The breaking of sunlight upon Alaesia immediately told her the warg had managed to drag her from the cave-like mound, and out into the open, only to continue its mad rush to put distance between itself and Ammatar. Alaesia could feel its fangs trying to properly work around the iron shaft that it had snatched up with her, as if it was trying to bite down to sever her limb, but was unable to overcome the metal obstruction. The forest flew past them as the warg rushed onward, only coming to slow as a familiar face came into view.
Zathra's eyes were ablaze with blue light. It cascaded from his eyes and lips like fire and mist and he rushed forward to meet the warg as it approached. Alaesia watched in shock as the orc drew back his ghostly fist with firm determination and, with one great swing, punched the beast in its huge eye, all while snarling, "YA WEREN'T S'POSSED TA HARM 'ER, STUPID BEAST!"
The warg's jaw snapped open in a yelp as the blue energy leapt from Zathra's claws and into its skull, causing it to release its bite on Alaesia's limb. She gasped, feeling the thick teeth withdraw from her flesh, but was relieved to note, it had been unable to break skin for how the bolt had jammed between its molars. Her chest heaved as Zathra moved to help her up and give her a once-over to look for fresh injuries.
"I'm alright," Her voice was shaky, but she was doing her best to gather her senses, "I'm s-sorry, I couldn't find anything like you described, but we can't stay here!"
"Nevermind tha', lass! Juss give yerself a moment ta breathe!" Zathra quickly passed a thumb over the bruises on her wrist from the warg's teeth, making them fade away in a blink. "Never shoulda sent ya off on yer own like that. I didn't think the warg had stuck around-"
"N-no, you don't understand! The wargs aren't the problem. Th-there's a giant s-snake! We have t-to go! Now!" Even as she uttered it, a virulent hissing seemed to rise from the forest around them. Beyond the bend of the tunnel of green rose the terrible sound of cracking, and Ammatar's gargantuan form crashed through the underbrush, whipping his head around and tongue flickering wildly to find where his quarry had scurried off to.
Zathra's face dropped in horror, "By the Eye..."
When the orc had reached out to the warg's mind, at Alaesia's prompting, it took every ounce of his effort to muster a pulse to bend its will to his own. He had issued a very simple command, echoing his own panicked desires to answer the human's plight. In blending his sight with the warg's into a blurry blaze of blue, he hadn't quite been able to see just what the issue was, until it was now charging towards him; a freaking titan of a snake, that he could only hazard to guess mimicked the tales of such forest constructs haunting Carnan's woods back around the seaside in Nurn.
His heart felt like it stopped dead at the sight of the supernatural creature, leaving only Alaesia with some semblance of wherewithal to shake him to his senses, "ZATHRA!"
Her plea rattled the orc just enough to jump into action. He drew the great, gray warg closer with a deft pulse of his power, and without giving her even a hint of warning, heaved Alaesia up to sling her across its back. The warg growled and gave a slight buck of protest, as did the human woman in her surprise, but the warg fell silent as Zathra mounted its broad back as well.
Situated firmly behind Alaesia so that he might brace her from falling, the orc spurred the beast with a sharp dig of his booted heels and a desperate bark, "Run, ya stupid beast!"
It sprang to action with little heeding, for it knew, as well as the orc did, that a devil was on its tail. The muscular, seasoned creature under the human and orc tore through the forest, doing everything it could to shake the giant snake. Zathra could hear Alaesia's panic at the whole idea as she cursed him silently in her own head. He couldn't really blame her for it either.
Never before had Zathra had any desire to attempt to tame a warg, let alone ride one, but desperation made one do truly crazy things. If anything though, it was her idea in the first place! If she hadn't broadcast the warning of the warg's presence and connected the dots to it and his bizarre vision, he never would have even come up with such a scheme to manipulate the beast to their advantage, even in his wildest dreams! To the orc, it seemed almost like a miracle that it had worked at all! He was wary to deny it either, for what other than the meddling of spirits far greater than himself could have possibly allowed him to have nearly complete control of a beast?
His mind briefly wandered to the item he had recovered from the tomb of stone, wondering if it might have some relation to his abilities; perhaps their venture hadn't been a complete waste, but only time would tell, so long they could escape the rampaging serpent. Now wasn't really the time to worry about the mystery of his magic, not with a beast like that bearing down on them! He'd take whatever small victories he could for the moment.
Small victories seemed all that he could count on though; the wild charge and the split concentration had permitted the warg some semblance of input on its flight away from the snake's territory. It had decided, without Zathra prompting, to flee towards more familiar turf, however, in its injured state, its stamina was quickly waning, and with it, the gap the warg held beyond Ammatar's reach was rapidly closing.
Zathra sent another desperate pulse of magic through his hands where they were buried in the thick gray fur of the mount, guiding it as best he could towards the puncture wound deep within the warg's side. It was a blind effort, made only more difficult by the rippling movement of its gait, but Zathra knew the warg wouldn't last much longer if he didn't do something about the injury. The warg's stride faltered as it screeched in pain at the sudden contortions it felt burning through the injury, but the orc's influence didn't stop pressing it to run onwards. It was a bitter torment, as organs, muscle, and sinew all melded slowly back together, all while continuing to flee.
The trees behind rumbled and shattered at the force of the snake coursing them through like a torrent. The horrible creaks and moans of the forest make chills crawl up Alaesia's spine. She couldn't bring herself to look back at the thing that pursued them, but not only out of fear. Ammatar had named her such a wretched thing for her association with orcs, and even though she had tried to deny it in that moment, it was impossible to maintain such a façade; not as she made her escape alongside Zathra. She was undeniably tethered to her captors, so much so she couldn't brave a 'redeeming death' the snake might have granted her for her trespasses. Her terror whispered foully to her of corruption; of how she had let so much of Mordor take root in her. So twisted she had become that a being who claimed to be of elvish creation saw only shadow within her. Ammatar had confirmed all the rotten reflections she saw within herself, and it made her heart feel like it was going to break.
The trio, orc and human carried upon the warg's back, all burst into the clearing just an arrow's flight ahead of the mighty serpent. The warg charged blindly forward, as if hoping to retreat to its old den, but Zathra wasn't about to let the beast drag him, nor Alaesia, into a dead end. The crackling of blue energy rippled down his ghostly forearm, while the other he wrapped around Alaesia's waist, barking a command into the wind that buffeted against them both, "Brace yerself, lass!"
Alaesia felt Zathra throw all of his weight to one side, and suddenly she was being dragged along with him. At the same moment, the warg let out a snarl as the orc's magic surged and commanded it to pivot on its heels. The mount's sudden change in direction flung its riders right into empty air and crashed violently down into the field of slate. Alaesia and Zathra were sent scattering across the dirt, a tangle of their chains keeping them bound together. Zathra bit back a snarl as the sharp rocks ripped and jammed themselves between the sections of his armor as they came to a sliding rest.
He had managed just barely to maneuver himself in such a way that he took the brunt of the fall, shielding Alaesia by catching her on his chest, but it left him dazed and rattled. It felt like the whole of his back had been chewed up and spat back out, and as he shifted, he could just barely see a streak of his own blood dragged across the ground. He groaned quietly and grit his teeth; if only he could will himself through the pain while it started to knit together almost immediately...
Alaesia gasped for breath from the impact, having narrowly missed impaling herself upon the iron bolts that Zathra had attempted to throw clear as he had launched them off the warg's back. The metal rang loud as a bell as it went clamoring beyond her reach and sight as a plume of dust was kicked up around the pair.
She glanced back, wildly searching around to take stock of the situation and watching as the gray warg swooped out and wide around the clearing, back towards where they had just exited the woods from; the glow in the warg's eyes renewed to a vibrant blaze from Zathra's pulse. Beyond it, the deep shadows of the forest were trembling; the snap and fracture of ancient trees being mowed down thundered louder and louder. Her mind was fuzzy, everything but the approach of the snake's hissing filling her mind with his bewildering effect. He was getting closer, nearly to the edge of the clearing, she was sure of it! She had to get one of the bolts! It was her only means of defense!
But Alaesia couldn't peel her eyes away from the trees. It felt like the maw of the forest was growing wide around her, threatening to scoop her up and deliver her to the snake itself. There, in the dim gloom, she could see his eyes; Ammatar's feral eyes. They caught her in their piercing focus. She wasn't permitted to look away. Those eyes were voids of green and yellow, all-consuming, inescapable, filling her vision and mind, closer and closer! The orc and human would not escape. They would feed the forest, one way or another. That was the promise in those eyes.
The warg's maneuver brought it to intercept the great serpent, right as Ammatar's head breached the fringe of the clearing. Alaesia flinched as she watched the gray beast collide with the snake with every ounce of its bulk, pouncing, ripping, and biting with savage ferocity. Blindsided by the attack, Ammatar's coils snapped and writhed. However, he quickly regained his bearings. He wouldn't be taken by surprise a second time!
Ammatar's tail, a writhing mass of vines, branches, roots, and earth all intertwined swung around like a whip. The vicious snap through the air whistled and cracked against the warg's back, splitting wide fur and skin, forestalling the huge beast's attack. That was all the opening that Ammatar needed. Without missing a beat, Ammatar struck. He snapped out his jaws, grabbing the warg and starting to sink his fangs into its flank as he moved to rip it away from his own throat. He thrashed back and forth, doing everything he could to seek the more vital organs under all the fur and flesh, before the warg's jaws finally released.
The warg wheezed and howled, feeling the orc's mystic energy within its body doing everything in its power to prevent a fatal blow, but Ammatar's seeking was relentless. Fangs as long as sabers were nearly reaching the warg's lungs and heart, tickling ever closer as more force bore down upon it. The snake whirled, about to fling its assailant aside as it grew more and more limp. His eyes finally locked once more onto Alaesia and Zathra, when suddenly, a huge fist connected with the side of his head with a deafening CRACK!
***** Translations *****
Mokob-hai - Orcsbane (Plant)
Eldon - Elf-bred (begotten by elves)