Page 33 of Joy Guardian
“Is that their mother then?” Ciana pointed behind me.
The sand centipede had caught up with us and poked its flat head into the cave. Its legs moved even as its body remained stationary. They scraped against the stone with the unnerving sound that echoed through the cave and the tunnel. Its black scales reflected the green glow of the walls like metal. To my knowledge, they were just as hard and enduring as metal too.
“Is it going to eat us?” Ciana kicked off the baby centipedes that tried to get up the rock to her.
I slid my daggers from their sheaths.
“No. I’m not going to let it.”
It was probably good that Ciana didn’t know that sand centipedes’ legs were sharp like blades. They could dissect a camel in minutes. The centipedes also used their legs to carve caves andtunnels in the rock under the desert floor for the unsuspecting prey to fall down into their traps like we did.
The centipede unfurled its long body like a spring, propelling it into an attack.
Ciana cried out in warning.
I slashed with my right dagger, then cut with the left, hard enough to leave a long gash in the creature’s body. Pale blood dripped from the wound on its side and trickled into the cave.
The centipede hissed, retreating. Its thin, hard legs scraped against the stone like iron nails. But it wasn’t gone for good. Just a moment later, the creature’s body constricted again, readying for another attack.
I gripped my daggers tighter, crouching down in preparation.
The baby centipedes suddenly lost interest in Ciana and me. They scurried after their mother, but not for help or comfort. Catching the scent of blood, they climbed on her side, tearing and ripping the wound on her side wider to feed on her flesh.
With a loud sound—a half-hiss, half screech—the centipede lunged into another attack on me. Its sharp legs sliced through my shroud like blades. It’s hard body slammed into me, knocking me off my feet. I fell to the floor with the creature’s side pressing me down.
“Kurai!” Ciana’s scream rang with panic.
She grabbed the tail of the centipede and pulled, trying to drag the creature off me. Refusing to let go of its prey, the centipede gripped my sides. Its legs tore through my clothes and broke my skin, letting out blood.
“Die!” I stabbed my dagger through its flat head so hard, the tip chipped the rock beneath it.
Its long, taut body lashed like a whip in the agony of death. Ciana leaped away, narrowly avoiding being cut into ribbons by the centipede’s legs.
“Die.” I turned the dagger, ending the creature.
The baby centipedes swarmed the still twitching body of their mother and started tearing it into pieces.
“Kurai, are you okay?” Ciana sidestepped over the writhing centipedes on the floor in her rush to get to me. “You’re bleeding.”
The searing pain from the long gushes on my sides finally registered with me. I clenched my teeth, getting up.
“Lay still.” Ciana fussed over me. “Let me take a look at your wounds first.”
“I have to get up now, while I still can.” I gestured at the centipedes that swerved towards the rivulet of my blood snaking across the floor. They would devour both their mother and me if given a chance. “We need to get out of here.”
Pressing one hand to my side, I grabbed Ciana’s arm with the other as the small but vicious centipedes gathered at our feet.
“Ouch!” Ciana cried out in pain when one of them climbed onto her foot, its spiky legs piercing through the cloth I’d wrapped her feet and legs in.
“Quickly, while there is still something left of their mother to distract them.” I swatted at the bloodthirsty centipede with one of my tendrils, swatting the creature from her foot. But several more crawled to us already, trying to climb on our feet.
“Gross, disgusting, bloodthirsty creatures.” Ciana shook her legs while stomping toward the exit.
The more we shook them off, however, the more of them swarmed us, drawn by the blood seeping from my wounds.
Ciana gasped in horror as one of the centipedes climbed up her leg and under her skirt.
“Run.” I yanked her by her hand, pulling her out of the cave.
