FOURTEEN

Lozen ran as swiftly as she could, towards the opposite direction that is, she was shivering with fear, but who wouldn't be In this case? The monster looked terrible to behold, and it wasn't her concern if the girl she had met was in danger, people always died, shit! She just killed a bunch of guards on her way here, she thought. But as the thoughts flooded her mind, she noticed that there was a burden of weight that sank heavily on her heart; a hint of pity that couldn't abandon Ersa to her demise, could it be that the thought of her dying was too much for her to chew? Lozen fought hard within herself, to keep her emotions in check, to be the icy cold-blooded warrior she’d be trained to be, but her cold heart had been defrosted by the warmth of her loved ones, and she was vexed as she found out that she wasn’t what she used to be once, all this reasoning plunged deep inside of her, turning her around, turning her towards danger, towards certain death, towards rescuing Ersa.

Lozen raced back immediately, she had no plan or weapons, so she had to improvise. Firstly, she thought on how to distract the creature away from Ersa. This she solved by throwing a little rock at the monster, Ersa was almost blue, having air forced out of her lungs. This got the Lamia’s attention because it suddenly dropped Ersa, and jerked towards Lozen with a fast pace. The creature was quick in its movement, but Lozen dodged to her right side, making the creature to double back, then it began striking a long range attack with her sharp finger nails, which scraped Lozen’s skin but couldn’t do more damage than that.

“Shit! Shit! Shit!” screamed Lozen, as she gasped for air, the Lamia still pursued her as tried scampering away, but Ersa was inhaling air while holding her aching neck. “Ersa dear. Will you mind finding a tree to climb for safety, while I look for a way to kill this snaky thing?”

“Okay, uhmm—I can do that. Ooh! There's a spear. I had a spear, would that be of any use?” asked Ersa, while rushing and climbing unto a nearby tree.

“Shit! You had a spear all this time and you're just telling me now?” replied Lozen, cleary frustrated, the Lamia was almost on her heel, twisting and slithering round the grove of trees in the silviculture.

“I'm sorry; I am really not thinking straight right now.” said Ersa.

And it was like what fate itself destined, as Lozen sighted a spear smeared on the ground, without a second thought she ran to it, the Lamia was close now, and before Lozen could grab the spear, the creature used its nails to slice through her cheeks, but it didn’t stop the determination of the warrior, because she scraped the spear off the dirt of the land quickly still.

Then Lozen began retreating with a pace, causing the creature to coil in a spot and hiss furiously in pure irritation, it was devising new ways to end Lozen’s existence. It showed its vicious teeth, and it occurred that a glint of venomous saliva hung slimly around the creatures’ mouth, its venom looked toxic; the kind that could melt anything it comes in contact with.

On the other hand, Lozen was running out of misdirection strategies, the rigors of fatigue was finally getting to her, which made her wheezy and her pace slower than before, welts and aches rummaged and burned her pain receptors, so much that she reasoned that she wouldn’t last through another attack.

The lamia could see this fact too, as it finally cornered Lozen who tried to catch her breath while clinging to the bark of a tree, it saw an unaware, tired out prey, and so it used Lozen distracted state to attack at once. This power move surprised the warrior; but as the terror of her predator stringed nearer, she unconsciously protected herself by outstretching the spear, which made the Lamia to recoil back in retreat. The creature was growing more impatient with its prey, so it tried another long range attack, and soon enough all Lozen could hear was a fizzling sound as the venomous saliva lunched towards her, quickly she staggered towards her right side, and the venom missed her as it landed on the bark of the tree she was previously resting on, melting it instantaneously. Using all her might she could muster, Lozen rushes towards the creature with a new burst of courage; with the help of the spear she began slicing the creature with the pointy sharp edge of the spear.

This appeared to have the opposite result, as it made the Lamia more enraged, its eyes were filled with terror, the creature hissed with an unholy anger, it more like wailed in annoyance, clutching its injured face in pain.

“You injured me you little mouse, *hisssss* I'll tear you apart limb by limb!” screamed the horrific creature, in pure fury. Sending goosebumps up Lozen's skin, she knew how thoroughly fucked she was now.

“Pssst! Lozen over here,” signaled Ersa. She was held by a branch, almost breaking it with her weight as she fussed about.

“Whatever do you want? Can't you see I'm almost getting killed here, for the sake of saving your weak arse?” asked Lozen with an aggression. Still she moved to the tree in which Ersa was upon, glancing quickly, she saw the creature was licking its wounds upon a spot, with its enlongated gooey tongue.

“I know a way you could kill it . . .” whispered Ersa.

“I can't hear you. Can you just speak louder, the snaky thing is screaming too hard.”

“Its head . . . stab the spear in the Lamia’s head, it’s the creatures only soft spot,”

“Oh Really! You just have to be so late with helpful information. If by any chance this creature kills us both, I’ll strangle you myself.” resorted Lozen.

“No, that's just incredibly dumb for you to say,” said Ersa, sensing the sarcasm in Lozen's tone. “The creature is furious, it attacks without restrain . . . If it does and surely it will, you could make a run for it at the Northeast direction, bend to your knees slightly and strictly point the edge of the spear in the perfect right angle arc and hold it steadily still.”

“Okay? That's oddly precise,” said Lozen, feeling unsure.

“Please consider doing it. It has a twenty percent chance of it actually working—”

“Shit! Just a measly twenty percent chance? That’s fucking close to nothing,” cursed Lozen. “But sure I'll give it a try. I am dead already if it comes soon, I'll use the spear to—”

“Lozen! Behind you!” cried Ersa. But it was already too late for Lozen to react, the Lamia had attacked; the creature used its sharpened hands to fling Lozen away. Lozen was shocked to find her body being flung forcefully in another direction, slamming a tree, which broke her fall.

The pain elevated as she tried to stand, there was no form of exhilaration from this encounter anymore, only fear and the scare of death that could scar ones lifetime. Lozen exhaled, there was a trembling in her stance, that blended with a sudden disorientation and distress, that also crippled her vision, she could only see blurs of figures before her.

Lozen massages her eyes with her arm, removing the sand and rusted leaves that sprinkled it's way to her eye lashes, as she squinted to see better, what appeared before her was the scary vision of a serpentine creature sliding, hissing and heading towards her.

Anger swelled up deep beneath Lozen, the anger that comes with frustration; it covered her rational thoughts with a blanket, causing her into reckless action, so she began running towards the spear, vainly hidden on the ground by scattered leaves.

The Lamia was approaching at top speed, its breasts heaved, bouncing as its hair scattered up, shuffled in the wind, it was almost beautiful, except for its serpentine body for legs and it's bulging sharp teeth. The race was on, Lozen jets towards the spear, grabbing it, feeling its weight upon her hand; she runs towards the serpentine creature in a bid to counter the its attack.

Sadly, Lozen was unaware of the firm root that sprang up from the ground as she raged on her righteous anger, and so her left leg tangled upon it causing her a terrible fall to the ground, with her face kissing the grass.

Lozen twisted, so her back was rested on the ground, in an instant the Lamia jumps towards her in full strides. Lozen hurriedly fetched her spear, pointing it upwards towards the furious deadly creature, the spear jabbed at the creatures’ eye with so much force, that it stopped the creature midair, as the spear penetrated through its body, with a profound exhaustion Lozen further twisted the spear in, making it potrude out of the Lamia's head with force, green blood-like substances fell out as the Lamia, as it met its demise.