The Arrangement

The room felt so much smaller now, with Eriss here crowding around us. Of course, we could still stand up straight, whereas she was crammed in with moss-covered tentacles, seemingly running the length of the ship as if it were a living organism.

Before we knew it, Eriss had us surrounded, and the hot air steadily grew toxic as she sealed us off from the outside world more than we already were. Dauntless' interior now gave the term claustrophobia a whole new meaning.

I tried shoving against rows upon rows of tentacles only to have them expand and nudge me backwards with twice the force.

'Stop!'

We did as the Ingaran said, then with a prolonged hiss came the five-blade thin heads, slowly lowering until they were level with us.

'Good. Now that I have you're attention; I can offer you one deal.'

'Can't we negotiate?'