Ink Eddy

It was hot and humid, Marnie could feel her chest tightening as she breathed heavily and backed up against the wall of the dimly lit tunnel.

She could hear soft scampering coming from around the corner, they were still looking for her, they really don’t give up easily. And now she had stupidly gotten herself trapped in this dead-end.

Dammit Eddy! Why’d he have to blow our cover! We could’ve easily gotten in, set the trap, and gotten out, but now she has to deal with a group of ticked off Cave Dweggers. They stopped for a second, she could hear them greedily sniffing the air.

“Smell their flesh! Must be this way...” echoed the gnarled voice of one.

A feeling of dread overwhelmed her as the pitter patter of small feet neared the corner. She fiddled frantically for her dagger, it probably won’t do much, but at least it will give her some time. She gripped it tightly, she was ready to fight these little monsters, even if it kills her.

Just as she was about to jump out and slash whatever got in the way, she felt an icy hand grip her shoulder and pull her back. It slid a claw over her mouth before she could let out a yelp and dragged her into the small crack in the rock behind her.

“What the hell are you doing Marn!” Eddy whispered harshly as he dragged her through the tight tunnel. “You’ll never be able to fight off all those dwegger with a dagger!”

“Where were you!” She barked loudly her anger making her forget of the dreaded dwegger close by.
The sharp rocks cut and scuffed her arms as they frantically scuttled through the narrow tunnel. “Those things almost killed me!”

“I’ll explain later!” He yelled, his dark shadowy body whipping behind him as he held onto her hand “We’ve got company...”

The smell of rotting meat filled the air and Marnie heard snarling and snapping on her heels. Some dwegger had followed them down the tight tunnel, one of their needle like teeth nearly grazed the back of her foot.

One lunged forward, latching itself onto her lower leg, its small claws digging through her pant leg. She kicked at the small rat like creature clinging to her leg, it hung on tight, biting and ripping small chunks of flesh out of her calf.

Eddy quickly whipped around, passing through Marnie and quickly slashing at the one on her leg with his clawed hand. His sharp claw sliced through its fur as it screeched and let go of her leg and flopped limply onto the ground.

The pain seared through her leg like a hot knife cutting into her skin as she ran on, Eddy was still behind fending off dweggers, she peered over her shoulder. The dwegger were trying to lunge and bite at him, even though their small bodies passed through him in his ethereal form, they still managed to land a few bites while in his physical form.

As Marnie squeezed as fast as she could down the tight passage she started to smell the faint whiff of fresh air and the tight corridor started to loosen its grip on her body.

“I can see the exit!” She yelled as the dwegger continued to hiss.

“Oh thank God!” Eddy huffed as he flicked one of the disgusting creatures off his finger and a high pitched yelp escaped his mouth.

A sliver of dim light shone through the tiny crack that seemed to be their exit. Pain shot through her body and a cold sweat ran down her forehead as she felt a rush of wind over her face.

Marnie squeezed through the tight crevice and plopped onto the hard concrete, she felt a cold foot hop over her back and onto the cement in front of her.

They heard a symphony of hisses and screeches as the dwegger retreated back into their dwelling.

“Hurts! Hurts!” They squealed.
A gnarled older dwegger peered out at them “Be back... We find you, find you and eat you!” his hoarse voice echoed and big white eyes flashed as he retreated back into the hole.

Marnie felt a shudder run down her spine.
Luckily dwegger don’t like bright light too much.

Marnie slowly peeled herself off the pavement and unsteadily rose to her feet and stumbled a little. Eddy grabbed her arm.

“Thanks Eddy.” she puffed.

“No sweat Marn...” Eddy grinned as a fist smacked him in the chin. “What the hell!”

“That’s for leaving me to the dwegger!” Marnie yelled.

Bewildered onlookers stared at the seemingly crazy woman talking to a shadow.

“I didn’t leave you, I just... Took another route. ” he rubbed his chin. “And took this.”

He reached into a seemingly invisible pocket and pulled out a glittering, oval shaped turquoise colored gem.

“Where did you get that?”

“Stole it from their massive hoard, mostly junk, but then I saw this. ”

Marnie felt a sudden shiver run down her spine, a sudden feeling of dread overcame her for a second, she had a bad feeling about what Eddy had taken. He had a habit of taking things from the caves and lairs we explored but this time it was different, this gem was trouble.
She shook off the feeling after she observed the concerned look Eddy had given her.

“C’mon, let’s go back to headquarters and get out of this forsaken subway. ” Marnie said as Eddy clung on to her arm and various passers-by stared.

Her leg still hurt like hell, although this would be nothing compared to Lieutenant Tarrow’s outburst. That gem though, concerns her more...