Chimera

Chapter Fourteen: Jaylin

It was a stone that made him fall over. Hidden under hazy water, he couldn't have possibly seen it. Jaylin went crashing to the ground, stalagmites stabbing painfully into his arms.

The Salamander reared its head behind him and spat, sending a spray of acid into the air. Jaylin scrambled away, grabbing blindly at rocks to pull himself across the mud. He heard the hissing sound as the acid hit the rocks behind him. Jaylin scrambled desperately to his feet.

He saw the Salamander open its mouth unbelievably wide, its jaw unhinging in the process. Jaylin sprinted away. A huge flood of acid spilled from the creature's mouth, rushing across the stones and water. It was a deluge, and it was coming for him.

Jaylin turned at the last second. He saw the Caustic Salamander lashing its tail. He saw a spray of acid fly through the air. He lifted his arm to protect his face...

And it erupted in pain.

It hit me, he thought, the acid hit my arm.

Jaylin's legs felt heavy. The agony was too much. He couldn't move.

Suddenly, he heard a yowl. Something was attacking the Salamander! Eyes wide, Jaylin watched as the macaw-coyote slashed the Beast with his curved talons, leaving deep claw marks. At the same time, it snapped at the Salamander's head.

Jaylin cheered as the Salamander reeled backwards, claws scraping over the rocks.

"Jaylin! Run!" Lance shouted, rushing forward with his saber in hand, "I'll hold it off. Go!"

"No way!" Jaylin protested, drawing his spear. His arm morphed into a tentacle and wrapped around the weapon, pointing it at the Salamander. "You can't have all the fun!" he said.

Suddenly, Camila was there too, hurling her throwing knives with deadly accuracy. They embedded themselves in the Salamander's thick skin. The Caustic Salamander shrieked with rage, biting down on the coyote's leg. The mammavian shrieked and dove away.

Alana leapt down from a high ledge with feline grace, claws scraping the low ceiling of the cave. She brought her broadsword down on the Salamander. It blocked the strike with its leg, but one of its toes was sheared off in the process.

The Salamander shrieked again, unhinging its jaws.

"Oh, please don't spit on me," she said.

It spat on her.

Alana lifted her broadsword in a desperate bid to block the acidic saliva. The wide blade prevented the acid from touching her, like a metal shield!

It worked, Jaylin thought, with a flood of relief that his friend was safe.

But after just a second, the metal began to rust and corrode, shrinking and twisting. The wooden hilt was destroyed in a breath, forcing Alana to drop the weapon. She moaned as a trace of the acid stung her hand, while the sword clattered to the ground below.

But the fight wasn't over. Lance jabbed his saber towards the Beast's heart. It moved away just in time, the blade stabbing its elbow instead with a spray of blood. Roaring, the Salamander snapped at Lance's hand. Lance barely managed to avoid the bite that would have severed his arm from his body, by dropping to his knees just as its jaws closed above him. But the Salamander was ready. It swung its tail at Lance before he could possibly get up, whipping it into his chest and sending him skidding across the ground until he hit the wall of the cave.

As the Salamander started turning away from Lance and back to him, Jaylin saw an opening. He sprinted forward and leapt into the air, spear poised in his tentacle. As he came down, he drove the weapon into the Salamander's face. The metal spearhead punctured its eye.

Jaylin fell to the ground in a shower of black, viscous liquid that spilled angrily from the perforated eye. The Salamander screamed, clawing at it's face. It hissed at Jaylin, nostrils flaring.

With a jolt of fear, he realised that he was directly under the Salamander. It glared down its snout at him with hate-filled eyes. It moved forward, ready to tear his stomach open.

Suddenly, Lance was charging forward. His saber streaked through the air. The Salamander turned it's head away from Jaylin to see Lance running forward.

At that moment, Jaylin threw his spear upwards with as much strength as he could muster. It pierced the Beast's throat from beneath. A moment later, the spearhead poked out the other side. It was skewered by Jaylin's spear! And a split second later, Lance's saber made contact with the Salamander's neck.

The head fell to the ground with a thud. The headless body of the creature stood on all four feet for a moment, as if it hadn't yet realised that it had been decapitated. Then it wobbled. One of its feet swayed. A second later, the Caustic Salamander's body hit the ground with an almighty crash, sending its head rolling into a nearby pool with a plop, where it sank in the frigid depths.

Yay! No one died... except for the Caustic Salamander, that is. This is the fiercest battle that our heroes have ever survived, the slaying of a monster in a terrible cave. But now that they've nearly reached the end of the cave, they must find water. The survival of their city depends on them.

If you've enjoyed reading this story, don't forget to vote, comment and add it to your reading lists. I will be adding a new chapter every day. If you have any tips for how I can improve my writing, or what I did well this time, please feel free to tell me (in a nice manner). Thanks so much for reading my story!