"Emon?"Remnant whispered in my head and my gaze scanned the room quickly, frowning. "Up here shifter."
Narrowing my panther eyes, I looked up to see Remnant and my daughter perched on a rocky ledge.
Dropping low, every muscle of my body coiled before springing my massive cat body upwards, landing softly on top of the outcropping in a silent crouch.
Remnant’s lips pursed as she looked up into my feline eyes. "It's a dead end…unless."She waved towards a deep pit at the center of the cave I had moved around in search of them.
I shifted back, holding back a grunt when our daughter silently jumped towards me, gripping my leg tightly. I patted her head affectionately and then sniffed at the air towards the pit."Water?"I shivered, peering down at its never ending depths.
Remnant nodded.
I shook my head."Too risky. There has to be another way."
There was a large snapping of bone and all three of us looked up suddenly. I flinched at the soft hiss that echoed off the cave walls stirring the decaying stench.
Remnants eyes widened."Please tell me that it is not what I think it is?"
"A caoránach, mother of demon water worms? Sorry todisappoint."
Riella shivered next to us, backing away suddenly from the terrifying beast and tripping back against the rocky wall, setting off a waterfall of slated rock downwards. Reacting quickly, Remnant weaved her shadows, concentrating on muffling the sound so that not a single one clattered downward. The only proof was a plume of dust billowing around us, and then—Riella sneezed.
The three of us froze. The sound so horrifyingly loud in the silence of the cave that it seemed the entire world stopped to listen to it.
A cackling cross between a hiss and a roar followed quickly after and the large serpent crashed into the room. Her scaled body bouncing off the inner walls of the cave coiling higher and higher the more it infiltrated the space.
Riella’s lip quivered at her innocent mistake, looking up at me with fear in her eyes. Quickly, I pulled her into my arms as Remnant weaved more shadow to mask us from the caoránach's senses.
Its finned head swiveled around the room, white eyes glowing brighter in the pure dark with only the disturbed water sloshing out of the pit echoing off the walls. "No where to hidesssss," it cooed into the dark, this time for all of us to hear.
I glanced down at the pit and then back to my soulmate, her lips thinning while she pulled out the cú sith fang, reweaving the shadow shaft for the deadly tooth before passing it to our daughter, bending to kiss the top of her head in solidarity. Looking back up at me, she nodded sharply, jerking the straps tightly across her petite frame, the muscles in her arms making her brands ripple.
I resisted the urge to rub at my own arms, instead I did the opposite and pulled the dirtied pink sleeves of my shirt further down, stooping to my crestfallen daughter, whispering into her mind."We are going to jump in for a swim, little warrior cub. Any part of that worm even comes close to you, you stab it with your weapon, understand?"
My daughter's eyes lowered down to the exposed pit then back up to me, biting at her trembling lip, she nodded."I am afraid, faedere,"her tiny voice whispered back.
I grunted softly, brushing back the strands of her hair that had escaped her braid."Fear is good Riella. I am afraid too. But it won't stop us, will it?"
Her eyes flashed a solid gold while she listened. Her grip tightening."No."Her voice strong once more.
Glancing over to Remnant, I nodded,"We are ready, little umbra."
Licking her lips she wove a halo of shadow around her head, forming it into a bubble around her before doing the same for Riella and I.
“We will have about thirty minutes of air, shifter. Swim swiftly and hard."
Hissing loudly the caoránach slammed its fangs into the wall only a few feet away, sending crumbling stones cascading around us. I lifted Riella into my arms."Count down for me, my cub."
Riella's voice was but a whispered breath inside my mind."Three,"I stepped us both towards the edge."Two,"she breathed, peering down at the pit as I aimed our jump, her hand trembling around the spear and my shoulder."One."
I jumped, the decaying stench of fish hitting my nostrils full force as I clutched my daughter tightly into my chest, looking up to see my soulmate watching grimly onward.
A shriek slammed into the cave walls and echoed around us in a chaotic symphony of the grotesque. The demon worm's coiled body unwound swiftly, blindly lashing outwards for our location, nearly catching us mid-fall but the shadows were there, punching it forcibly away, causing more wailing that sent my teeth clenching.
My eyes never left my mate when she jumped down from the ledge only to slide down the looped body of the caoránach. I watched in fucking awe as she launched herself off the demon worm, twisting in a head long dive away from a venomous strike and punching her shadows straight into its jaw.
"Savage little umbra, you aren't falling for me all over again are you?"
Breaking into the deep water, her hair swarmed around her in a dark halo like a fallen gorgeous angel of death, fitting for being in Hell.
