The Cave - Part 3

*Growl*

"What-what is that?"

As the darkness gave way to the mass that was heading towards them, Octavia bore witness to what could only be described as an ever shifting pile of rocks. The low light made it hard to see, but it appeared to be a massive grouping of rocks all being held up by four legs worth of…rocks. As it moved the whole thing constantly shifted the rocks along its body. Ones on top moved about, bringing others forwards and sending even more behind. As the legs brought it through the cave, the rocks that made up or possibly just covered it, rolled around the area, almost like it was a tank tread rolling forward.

Her first thought was a rock golem. Very much a fantasy ideal that she had seen many times in novels and the like, but it didn't quite all add up. Being on four legs and the random growling made it seem more animal-like. And as it came further into the light, she could swear she could see the flesh of some kind in amongst the recesses between the rocks.

"It's a barootra. We need to leave. Now!" Sylvia shouted out before turning around and dashing away.

Octavia seeing this creature with its armour of rocks knew there was no way she could win. How she thought that she could easily deal with some wild animal with the skills she had, she had no idea. A wolf-like creature, maybe. But this thing was on a whole other league.

Turning tail, she followed after Sylvia who was only a few meters ahead of her.

Looking over her shoulder, she could see the barootra was a good distance behind them, and as they moved, it appeared to get further and further away, telling them that it was thankfully not as fast as they were.

"We've almost outrun it. We should be fine soon." Octavia said optimistically.

However, Sylvia quickly brought her out of that optimism.

"We may be able to outrun it, but that doesn't mean we are fine. We are in its territory, and that monster does not give up until we leave it. It will keep coming after us until it has either killed us or chased us out of its territory."

"Okay, that's bad but not so bad. We just need to leave its territory." Octavia said looking over her shoulder every now and then to check on the monster who was slowly disappearing into the darkness.

"True, but we have no idea where its territory ends…and besides, just because we outrun it, doesn't mean it can't catch up."

Not sure what she was referring to, she saw Sylvia look down and around them every now and then as she ran. Octavia went to ask her what she was looking for but was interrupted by a rumbling.

A rumbling of the ground beneath them.

Looking back and she saw the ground cracking slightly in the distance. Worse was that the cracking seemed to be heading towards them and at some great speed.

"Err, Sylvia?" she called out. She was no idiot. She could tell what it was. With Sylvia's knowledge of what the monster was, she had hoped she had some idea of how to get out of this predicament.

"Up a tree. Get up a tree, quickly."

Both of them had packs on their backs, Octavia having the heaviest. With her strength though, it was hardly a problem. The one who had it rough was Sylvia.

But even with that being the case, she still headed to the nearest tree and clamoured to get up a branch.

Octavia looked around trying to find one she herself could climb up as well but saw how much Sylvia was struggling. She was not used to the wilds, and the extra weight on her back was not helping.

So, heading over, she wrapped her arms around her…and gave her a lift.

Pushing up with all her strength, she was able to get her to one of the branches a good distance from the ground. From there, Sylvia pulled herself up while Octavia helped pushed the bases of her feet up to get her on the branch.

Once she was sure Sylvia was safe and secure, she made her way over to another tree nearby.

By this point the cracking earth was almost upon her, so she hurried to take hold of one of the low branches. With a push-up on her stunted tail, she made it and was able to sit on the branch. The only problem was that given the size of this monster, the branch she was on was about the same height as a dinner table it would sit at to eat her.

Looking up, she headed for the next, hoping it would be high enough to be out of reach. But as she took hold of said branch, she heard a loud crack.

Looking down she saw the ground below her explode open and a massive pile of rocks came flying out.

It was a terrifying sight to see but also ended up being beneficial.

As it headed up, the top of its body easily broke through the first branch she had been on. This, however, had the added effect of pushing her upwards, since her tail was still on the branch below. The creature had in effect helped her reach the next branch, which as she watched it, was out of range of its attack.

The barootra sat there for a moment, and Octavia saw the rocks on its back start to open up. It was very odd, as the rocks shifted and rolled under and over one another opening a hole. From that hole, she saw the flesh of the creature underneath. It was too dark to tell what colour it was, but as she watched it, the skin tore apart and gave way to several rows of very jagged teeth all in a circle. It was not like that of a human mouth, but a ring where teeth covered the whole surface, going down a couple of rows as well. It was utterly terrifying.

What scared her even more was when the creature pushed off of its feet and sprung itself up to try and bite her. The only good thing was that she was right about it being out of its reach.

The barootra tried a couple more times. It even went over to Sylvia but failed to reach them.

Both of them hoped it would just go away… but as Sylvia said, it was very territorial, and it would not stop till it killed them. So, the barootra moved so it was between bother of them, closed its mouth and sat down, forming a pile of rocks as it had in the cave.

Then it just waited.

…

"What do we do?" Sylvia asked as she just stared at the barootra. Her knowledge of the creature had helped extensively but figuring out a way to either get away or kill it, well she left that up to Octavia.

"I don't know. We might be able to just run again, but once we get down, it might just wake up and attack us instantly."

They realised that while the barootra was doing what it did in the cave, it was probably some form of hibernation before. This time however, it knew they were here and it was merely waiting for them.

They might be able to flee and make it out of its territory, but if it did the same tunnelling thing as before, they might not make it up a tree a second time.

They could try to fight it, but with her pole axe, any sort of attack is just going to bounce right off the rocks of its back. The hammer side might do some damage, and make a few cracks here and there, but with the armour it had, it would be a long time before she would actually take it out.

She even decided to try it out. Her pole axe had quite the reach, and from her place on the branch, she was able to touch it with the end. So, pulling back, she gave a light swing to start, which did absolutely nothing to the creature. Swinging harder and harder, she tried to damage the barootra, but eventually, even with all the strength she had as a lamia, her swing did nothing.

So, putting attacks on the rocks to the side, she thought about waiting for it to open its mouth, which would allow her to get a few cuts in the flesh which would surely do damage. The only problem was waiting for it to do just that, and who knows what it would be like trying to attack it like that. If anything, once she jams her pole axe in there, it might just close up and break it apart or just disarm her.

None of these outcomes sounded too appealing.

…

By now, it was so dark that neither Sylvia nor Octavia could actually see one another. The moon was hidden behind a very thick cloud, and the only natural light was the odd fire fly-like insect that floated by every now and then. Not that it actually allowed them to see much. Sylvia was fine obviously, but Octavia's sight did not help. Again, she tried to see with it, but all she was a dark blue hue everywhere aside from looking at Sylvia. It would seem that the creature was so well covered in rocks and probably had some odd physiology, that it hardly had a heat signature.

But as they looked around trying to figure out what to do, Octavia realised something.

"Where are its eyes?"

Sylvia jumped a little at the sudden voice in the darkness. She obviously knew who it was, but having been stuck in silence for so long it frightened her a little. Well so much so that she almost fell off the branch.

Righting herself, she looked down at the barootra to try and find something like a set of eyes, but all she saw were rocks.

Octavia too tried to recall what she had seen when looking at the barootra. Granted, she had been running from it, but she was sure that the front of the creature was just all rock.

Did it find them through some over means?

The first thought that came to mind was sound. Or maybe even vibrations in the ground given that it dug through it and looked like rocks, it was a fair assumption.

Either way, it opened up the possibility of fleeing while being able to stay alive. So, to give it a try, Octavia went into her pack and pulled out the only thing that they knew would make sound, had got its attention before, and wasn't essential.

One of the crystals.

While still pitch black, she recalled where a group of actual rocks were before. The crystal made such a large sound from hitting rock before, so it was best to do the same things again. Taking aim, she threw it with as much force as she could muster and hoped to hit it.

The sound of a ridiculously loud clang rang out from the crystal. They had to figure out what these crystals were, as nothing that small should make a sound as loud as that from hitting rock.

The clang was followed by a growl and a rumbling of rocks. Looking down, even in the darkness Octavia could see the hulking mass of rocks shifting and moving over to where the crystal hit. With a quick internal 'Yes!', Octavia knew that now would be the best time to go. With the barootra occupied, and now quite a distance from them, they may be able to get away.

Beckoning Sylvia, they both headed down their respective trees and dashed off through the forest, with Sylvia taking the lead. It was tricky with all the trees and obstacles, but Sylvia could see them with her night vision, and Octavia watched what she did with her vision to make sure she didn't fall prey to anything.

At the same time the barootra all of a sudden stopped moving, as if it was trying to figure something out. Then, once it had, it turned and headed after them. It moved at the slow pace it did before, but after a while, it decided to burrow.

"It's burrowed…we have to find another tree," Octavia called out.

The plan was not sound. It was a desperate act, and now it left them searching for low-hanging branches in darkness.

They continued to move as Sylvia looked around for not one but two branches that they could use.

As they ran, and in Octavia's case slithered, as fast as they could, the cracking earth was gaining on them.

It wouldn't be long before it caught up and had its fill.

Sylvia ran over to one tree and pointed to another when all of a sudden they heard the ground burst open.

Octavia panicked, as being the one at the back she figured it had caught up. Expecting to go flying or have to fight for her life she dived to the side and went to get her poleaxe off her back.

But no such horrible thing happened.

Looking back, they could see the barootra standing a few meters away from them. It just sat there watching, and waiting. Before it then turned and headed back.

They had made it out of its territory.

Both were stunned for a moment trying to figure out what happened when it clicked.

"We did it!"

"We made it out!"

Both cheered into the night at having got away from the creature, neither of them caring that other just as dangerous creatures may be about.

Heading over to each other, Octavia stopped her 'vision of truth', no longer needing to use it to flee and went in to hug Sylvia. It also would have hurt her eyes if it was on while Sylvia was so close.

Sylvia caught up in the moment went in for the hug as well.

The only problem was that the darkness had effectively rendered Octavia blind and so, she didn't see which way Sylvia went in for the hug. And as you can imagine, that caused a problem.

Happening so fast, Sylvia was already committed to the hug when she saw Octavia move in. She didn't have the time to shift her head to the other side when Octavia moved in as well. This led to them bumping their heads in a very silly way.

But with the momentum of it all, it also caused something else to happen.

Something of a surprise in the form of something soft touching Octavia's lips.

And no…it wasn't Sylvia's nose.