"I was trying to be helpful, that's all. I'm tired of having things happeningtome. I wanted to make something happen for once, to have some agency over my life, even if it is just climbing up to a stupid hole in the ceiling so I can pop my head out for a minute."
The moment the words slipped out, Midori felt a sense of relief. They were true. Most of her life she felt like things were happening to her, and she had no control over any of it. Her parents' deaths, her fiancé abandoning her, being abducted by aliens and crash landing on this crazy planet. None of those events were her choices, but she still had to live with them. She was tired of playing defense and responding to each new cataclysmic event. It was time to go on the offense. Make shit happen. Be her own hero, dammit.
Cael hugged her to his chest before setting her feet down on the cave floor, his four arms still wrapped around her. Midori'shand rested against his chest and felt how quickly his heart was beating. She'd really scared him.
Pugly's fuzzy body slammed against her legs as he leaned against her with an "Oomph!"
Cael pulled back a few inches and searched her eyes. "I'm sorry if I sounded upset. I was scared. If you want to try climbing up there again, I'll be waiting down here to catch you if you fall." His arms fell back, and he used one of his hands to push away a lock of hair that had fallen in front of her eyes. "However, I have a bit of an advantage with all these arms and my tail. Although I'd rather use them to keep you wrapped up safe and tight, they are also useful for climbing."
Cael stepped back and gave Midori room to make her choice. She looked up at the hole again and felt it beckoning to her. She wanted to make her way up there and poke her head out, to see the world beyond. It was like an itch she couldn't quite scratch.
"I want to see outside, but I also want to be smart about it," she answered. "If you can climb up more safely than I can, then you should do it. I'm not trying to break a leg just to soothe my curiosity."
Pugly shuffled next to her and thrust his head under her hand as if begging for his ears to be scratched. "Thank goodness for coming to your senses, oh miraculous climber of the weakest vines. Let the four-armed wonder fall to his death instead."
Cael turned and raised his brow at Pugly's comment, but then turned his attention back to the cavern wall and ran his hands across the bumpy surface. His fingers found a handhold, and he began pulling himself up. Together, his four arms worked to pull his body across the sparkling rock. His fluid movements were reminiscent of both monkey and spider as he moved up and over, up and over. Within a few seconds, he had already surpassed the point where Midori had fallen. A few seconds more and he was at the top of the ceiling.
Please be careful. Please be careful.Midori chanted the words to herself as she watched him scale the ceiling, hanging parallel with the floor. A few more feet and he was at the opening and pulling himself up and over the edge, his feet dangling in the air. His head and torso disappeared as he pulled himself farther outside.
"What do you see?" she called, her imagination running wild.
"It looks like the snow is thinner here. I think we're about halfway down the mountain. Maybe more. I'm going to look around and?—"
The growl filled the cave, bouncing off the walls and filling Midori's head.
"Cael!" she yelled, but she couldn't hear her own voice above the din of the beast's bellowing cry. She knew that sound. It was the familiar timbre of the vyrmm. Had it followed their scent? Tracked them somehow?
Cael scrambled back into the cave, his head clearing the exit just as one of the creature's clawed paws swiped past. The beast roared in frustration and thrust its arm through the hole, scouring blindly along the ceiling in its attempt to capture Cael. It swiped and caught one of his arms with its razor-sharp talons. Cael pulled his arm back and curled it around his chest, hanging on with only three hands.
The beast changed tactics and began digging away at the hole, enlarging it. Pugly pushed Midori out of the way as rock, snow, and debris tumbled to the floor of the cave, narrowly missing her. When she looked up again, there was now a massive hole gouged in the ceiling, and Cael was hanging on with only one hand. The vyrmm slithered through, clinging upside down to the ceiling, and making its way toward Cael.
Midori watched in horror as he looked down and then let go. Her hands covered her face, but they couldn't stifle her scream, and it echoed off the walls. Cael grabbed at the hanging vines ashe fell past, but they only pulled free from the cave walls, barely slowing his descent. In the blink of an eye, Cael's body slammed onto the cave floor and his groans filled the air.
"Cael!" Midori and Pugly rushed over and slid to the ground where he lay moaning on the floor.
"Where are you hurt?" Midori asked, trying to assess the severity of Cael's wounds.
"We'll worry about it later," he answered through gritted teeth. He nodded toward the ceiling, where the vyrmm's body was slithering its way down. "We need to get out of here. Now!"
Midori looked back toward the exit to the larger cave system. The tunnel back was narrow. Maybe the vyrmm wouldn't be able to navigate it. But even as the thought crossed her mind, she realized the vyrmm would be on top of them before they even made it that far. There was only one other exit from the grotto she could think of, which might save them.
Or it might kill them all.
There was no way to know until they tried. But staying there would definitely get them killed.
"Come on. Get up. This way."
Midori helped pull Cael to his feet, ignoring the lurch in her stomach when she saw the torn blue flesh on one of his arms. He was lucky he hadn't broken his neck. If they lived through this, she'd make sure he knew it.
Pugly ran by her side while Cael stumbled along next to her as she helped him to the back of the grotto, where the pool emptied into the swiftly moving stream. She headed down where the water disappeared through a tunnel in the cave wall. Midori could only hope it opened back up soon.
"Over there! We have to jump in. It's the only way out of here."
Cael nodded and pushed Pugly into the rapid water first. The pig dog sputtered and paddled furiously before the pressure sucked him through the hole in the wall and he disappeared.
The vyrmm crashed to the ground and roared. It was only seconds away now.
"Don't let go of me," Cael said, grabbing her hand in one of his.
