The twin suns had descended past their peak long ago, leaving the sky pale and indifferent. The wind howled like an unfed baby, its icy fingers clawing at Femi's shirtless fur.
His breath escaped in ghostly plumes, vanishing almost before they left his lips. His muscles burned, his trembling beneath him, but he dare not falter.
Not now.
Not when the Eri loomed before him a monstrous silhouette against the snow, its jagged teeth bared in a snarl, its eyes glowing with a malevolence that made his blood run cold.
"Oboy, na do or die.
The rope's coarse fibers bit into Femi's palms, the pain a sharp anchor against the adrenaline howling through him.
"Na miracle if I survive this wahala".
Across from him, the Eri shifted. Its muscles coiled, like storm waves beneath snow covered hide.
Femi dug his padded feet deeper, the frozen earth groaning under his weight. His thighs burned. His body screamed. Every instinct begged him to run, he listened because survival here wasn't about fighting this thing.
It was about running around.
"Just dodge like mad"
Then he exploded forward.
The world blurred around him, his body a streak of motion too fast to easily follow. Not even the Krags, with their razor-sharp reflexes, could track him properly. Even the Eri, found it difficult to anticipate his next move.
Femi was running with everything he had, his lungs burning, his legs a wildfire of agony. Still, he charged.
Suicidal? Maybe, but some one had to do it.
The Eri lashed out, a heartbeat too slow.
Femi pivoted, his body slipping beneath the creature's massive swinging limb. Wind roared past his ears as his fingers worked swiftly, spinning the rope around the Eri's right leg, then pulled taut.
The coarse fibers tightening like a serpent's coil. He turned sharply, barely escaping a wild swing that missed him by inches the force of the blow sent a gust of snow spraying into the air, the impact cratering the ground where he had stood just a heartbeat before.
The Eri's roar split the air, shaking snow from the pines, Its tree-trunk arms carved trenches in the frozen soil with every missed swing, but Femi flowed between them like a spirit, ducking, weaving, skipping away with the desperate grace of a man dancing on the edge of death.
His heart hammered against his ribs, his breath coming in more ragged gasps.
Femi danced between death's teeth, each near-miss stoking his anger hotter. Now that he thought of it, what type of unfortunate life his he living. Chased by monsters while half-naked in this cold hell.
These people just dey risk my life. he thought, as he dodged another swipe of the creature's claws.
The Eri reacted immediately with a faster attack...
Femi yelped, pivoting on his heel, and avoided getting hit, but the cold breeze created by the monsters swings left a shiver in his bones.
His shorts offering less protection from the cold than a prayer. These people's nonsense dragged me out here. Shirtless! And for what? This nonsense?
"Next time," he gasped between ragged breaths, "I will stay back!" Another swipe sent him stumbling backwards.
" Let the brave ones scout and let the smart ones sleep. At this point i just want to live long enough to complain about this!
The Eri lunged again, its massive form kicking up powdery snow. Femi jumped aside, hitting the snow rolling, muscles shrieking.
SnowPowder filled his snout as the Eri's bulk blotted out the suns.
"come on". A roar tore from his throat in fury and frustration.
Yet even as the creature pressed its attack, Femi stayed just out of reach. He vaulted onto its back, claws scrabbling against it's hide, then leapt clear before it could buck him off.
"If I survive this, he promised the uncaring sky, dem go buy me designer shirts. With gold buttons".
He landed awkwardly on the snow from the jump stumbling, the giant didn't let this opportunity pass and reared back, raising both arms high, preparing to bring them down in a crushing blow that would split Femi's coconut head....
THWIP.
An arrow from Varga sliced through the air, striking the Eri's ear with a sickening thunk.
The beast flinched, its focus shattered. Femi didn't hesitate. He used the distraction, looping the rope one last time around the Eri's legs, yanking it taut before darting away like a thief fleeing a robbery.
His strength was spent, his body failing. Every step toward Varga was agony, his vision swimming, his breath coming in ragged gasps.
He locked eyes with her, his voice raw as he screamed, "Now...do it now! Throw your ropes!"
The Eri lurched forward, its massive hands grasping at empty air as it struggled against the bindings. Its legs tangled, the ropes pulling taut and with a thunderous crash, the beast toppled into the snow, the impact shaking the ground beneath them.
Varga's voice cut through the chaos, sharp and commanding: "Do it now!"
The Krags hurled their ropes, their battle-hardened arms snapping forward. The liquid-coated cords whipped through the air, hissing like serpents, the weighted ends wrapping around the Eri's limbs, its torso, its throat, each loop tightening like a noose.
"PULL!"
Twelve warriors heaved, their muscles straining, veins bulging beneath sweat-slicked skin. The Eri staggered, its massive frame jerking as the ropes went taut, the fibers screaming under the strain. It thrashed, its claws slicing at the cords, cutting some, but the remaining Krags threw more ropes to secure the beast, the fibers sticking to its flesh like molten tar, each movement only entangling it further. The beast's breath came in ragged, furious gusts, its dark eyes burning with feral defiance, but the Krags did not relent.
For a heartbeat, the Eri was pinned, its limbs pulled in different directions.
Then it exploded.
Ropes snapped like gunshots. Warriors skidded forward through the snow, while it raged, thrashing against the bindings. The ropes groaned, fibers snapping under the strain.
"Varga I need the water skin" he called out, a Krag threw it from were they all stood keeping the Eri pinned. he caught it, shaking to find out only a small amount of the liquid remaid but it would have to do.
Femi didn't hesitate.
He advanced. One hand clutched the half-empty water skin, the other around his axe. Step by deliberate step, he closed the distance.
The Eri attempted to attack, its massive body twisting in fury, but its movements were severely restricted, the Krags' bindings biting into its tough skin.
Femi smiled, his eyes gleaming with a fierce intensity. He gazed at the Eri, its monstrous form writhing against its restraints, raising the water skin, he splashed the remaining contents on the Eri, and declared.
"I may not have a holy pebble for you, demonic giant," Femi raised his axe and took his knife, the blades flashed a hungry silver in the twilight.
"But let me show you mankind's greatest trick"
The Eri suddenly wrenched itself free, sending the Krags sprawling. Its claws scythed toward Femi...
...and missed.
Femi ducked, rolled, and came up right behind the Eri, next to a Krag who had been dragged off his feet, rope still in hand.
Femi gave a nervous chuckle, his brown eyes burning with a glee that bordered on madness.
"You see, mr. giant? Mankind has survived long on ingenuity and that liquid, on you called Ewu or should I say resin, as the Ohibo would call it,is very flammable. Enjoy."
With a swift motion, he slashed his knife and axe together, steel kissing steel in a shower of sparks. One fiery ember landed on the rope, still soaked in the strange, glistening liquid.
The sap ignited with a whoosh, flames racing along the ropes like starving serpents. In an instant, the bindings wrapping around the Eri burst into a roaring inferno. The creature shrieked, a sound so piercing it made the trees tremble. Its flesh blackened, its healing unable to keep pace with the inferno consuming it.
Varga!" Femi screamed, his voice raw. "Kill it!"
She was already moving.
A spear, torn from a fallen Krags grip was in her hands. Her muscles burned, her vision blurred with exhaustion and blood loss but her aim was true. She hurled it with the last of her strength, her body twisting like a coiled spring unleashed.
The spear pierced the Eri's chest, driving deep into the pulsing black heart hidden beneath layers of scarred flesh. A spray of thick, tar-like blood erupted from the wound, sizzling as it hit the flames.
The monster staggered.
Its limbs twitched violently, claws scraping furrows into the snow. Its jaw slackened, a final, guttural roar dying in its throat. The fire consumed it utterly, reducing its grotesque form to a writhing, shrieking pyre. Then, at last, it collapsed,its massive form twitching as the flames consumed it.
The snow around it melted into steaming puddles, the ground blackened and scorched.
Silence fell over the clearing, broken only by the crackle of flames and the ragged breaths of the survivors.
Femi dropped to his knees,his body trembling with exhaustion. His axe slipped from his fingers, embedding itself in the soot-stained snow. His grin, though, never faded.
Varga approached, her expression unreadable. She looked at Femi, then at the smoldering remains of the beast. Her chest heaving. Blood streaked her temple where the Eri's claws had grazed her, and her plam were split open from gripping the spear.
The Krags gathered around, their faces a mix of awe and disbelief. One of them clapped Femi on the shoulder, his grip firm.
"You brought the demon down," he said
Femi laughed, though it came out more like a wheeze.
"Yes and now you guys owe me new clothes"
Varga watched him and despite the her ovious pain, despite all the losses, she laughed.
It was a harsh, broken sound more a cough than true laughter but it sounded like victory to Femi. Because it meant they were still alive, and as the last embers of the fire flickered out, the white wilds became silent once more.