Chapter 10

Kiva struggled, frozen with indecision. Surely, the otters could drive this thing away? They outnumbered it significantly. But the number of corpses floating in the water seemed to be evidence against their ability to think tactically. If she intervened, could she do anything? Would it kill her? It was certainly possible.

Then again, bioconvergence demanded blood. She had known this going in, and she was never going to be able to pick her opportunity anyway. It wasn’t up to her. She made the decision to intervene, no matter the cost. She would do what she could to drive it away.

Kiva was as close to the den mouth as she’d ever been now. Within throwing distance. The reefmaker was crawling, easily sliding over the uneven, rocky ledges to capture its next victim. A mother interposed herself between it and four pups, thumping her tail violently, but she was running out of room to back up, and the reefmaker would be on her in moments. Kiva was pretty sure this was the same mother who bit her when she fell into their territory. She still bore painful reminders of that, but adrenaline helped her ignore it.

She grabbed a rock, throwing it as hard as she could, and doing her best to aim for one of the bulbous eyes on top of it head. As the projectile slammed into it, it mostly ignored it, still slithering towards the mother. Kiva kept throwing, stepping closer and closer, until she was at the mouth of the cave. Several otters were inside, scared, angry, violent. They were startled as Kiva stepped into view, but she kept throwing rocks.

One finally connected with a soft bulbous eye, which seemed to annoy it more than hurt it, and the creature shifted attention to Kiva. It dropped over the ledge it was on, disappearing into the water. Kiva glanced at the otters, and even though she knew they couldn’t understand her, she spoke to them.

“Run! It’s not safe here anymore,” she yelled.

A pair of purple-blue tentacles, slapped over the edge in front of her, grabbing hold and pulling the creature up, appearing only feet away from Kiva. She backed up, turning to run. Faster than she could react, a tentacle whipped outward and wrapped around her ankle, slamming her to the ground painfully. She clung to the ground with one hand, coral branch cutting her skin open as she held it in white knuckled grip with the other hand. She was cut, scratched, and bruised as the thing drug her over the rocks towards its waiting beak. It looked like it would rend her to pieces.

Out of ideas, Kiva rolled onto her back, preparing to meet her end, and as it pulled her into the water towards its mouth, she jammed the coral spike into its eye before it could finish her. A painful thrash greeted her as the creature flailed in pain, but she did not dare let go. She twisted the branch cruelly to inflict maximum damage. Kiva was rewarded as the tentacled monster released its grip momentarily. She let go and pulled her head above water, with a hand on the lip of the ledge.

“GO!”She commanded the otters, and they did. Not out of fear of her, but to protect their young. Three otters stood between the flailing tentacles and a far ledge, as a dozen pups of varying ages ran by, diving into the water and fleeing to safety. She had done all she could, and she pulled herself up out of the water, chest and arms bringing her onto the rock of the cave. The three otters had fled, as soon as the rest of the romp had made it to safety.

As she was climbing, the tentacles reappeared, wrapping around her torso. So this is it. She reached, holding on with both arms, but it was futile. With a scream she plunged beneath the surface, determined to go down swinging. Knowing she didn't have a choice, she turned to face the reefmaker, keeping it within her sight under the water holding her breath as it squeezed. Air escaping from her lungs in bubbles, she continued struggling, not having any other choice. As Kiva watched the creature drag her towards its mouth, she put up feet and arms and hands to stop it, pushing herself away from the tentacle off the core of its body. The beak was snapping trying to eat her, but she resisted with all of her might.

It didn't prove to be enough as any appendage she stuck out to resist was immediately wrapped up by another tentacle. She was almost drawn and quartered, spread apart and held with unyielding strength under the water. The hooked beak took a gnarly chunk out of her leg as it got its first bite on her flesh. It was incredibly painful and blood clouded the water everywhere. With that, the last of her air escaped as she saw blackness in her vision. The pain was too much.

The last thing she saw was a bright greenish blue swirl slam into the reef maker next to her. It was accompanied by other greens and blues and whites. Small glows of colored light occupied her vision as the reefmaker let go of her. She swam to the surface, failing, but something propelled her upwards, tossing her above the surface onto the shore. Gasping for air and coughing out water from her lungs, she laid there, unable to move. The leg wound was painful. Her arm was still painful. All her cuts and scrapes, the bruises from her falls were becoming known in this moment. Her adrenaline had worn off. She was only operating on instinct and will.

After a few moments of gathering herself, Kiva turned around to see a tangled ball of tentacles and otter fur in a vicious battle struggling for dominance. Several otters were darting in, slamming and biting the creature viciously. One tentacle was ripped off completely, floating away on top of the waves, still curling around itself as it died. Other otters were darting to support their companions. Ten otters were fighting this thing to the death as it invaded their home. Kiva crawled away, her part in this was done. She was exhausted, and too wounded to help them. She unceremoniously collapsed, far enough away that she felt safe for the moment, but she knew that could change in a heartbeat.

For all their ferociousness, otter corpses were popping up floating lifelessly as the creature simply crushed them with rage and brute strength, snapping their spines. The otters gave as well as they got, and another tentacle was severed. Purplish blood oozed out of the reef maker as it took wounds from fang and claw, and from being slammed repeatedly into sharp rocks. The battle was only visible in violent splashes of water, and a lot of disappearing under the surface. The otters eventually won as the reef maker was seen fleeing away from the cave mouth, and away from the attacking romp.

The tidefang otter warriors were wounded, badly, but had protected their charge. They paused to nurse wounds, and then retreated, checking on the safety of family they had helped to flee. It was total destruction. And no matter how anybody looked at it, everyone lost. Kiva was wounded severely, and was at a serious risk of blood loss, not to mention infections from the ocean water whatever bacteria grew on the coral and skin of the reefmaker. She watched as the monster swam away just barely visible among the shallows of the shoreline, revealed by its oozing bloody trail. She continued following its path and only then realized the danger. It was heading toward the rocky outcrop where Grumpy had left the otter pups. It appeared only one pup remained; the rest having fled long ago. It was nervously looking at the water testing the edge before retreating higher onto the rock, afraid to go below the waves.

The reefmaker had spotted at the easy prey and was crawling sinisterly towards the young pup. It was wounded, moving slowly. Kiva forced herself to her feet, screaming for the otters to turn around and help. She ran, limping, more dragging her wounded leg than running on it. But she went as fast as she could trying to beat the reefmaker to the young pup.

As Kiva reached the small underwater shelf and waded out towards the pup, the reefmaker pulled itself up onto the edge, threatening the pup. The pup climbed higher, on top of the rock, but it was only minimally higher, and the reefmaker clung to the side of the rock beginning to feel around, seeing if it could pull the pup down easily. Kiva ran as fast as she could, but the creature had started climbing. The pup was very likely done for if she didn't give it her all.

The pup called out barking a scared cry into the air, calling its mother or maybe even for Grumpy to come back and save it, but that wasn't an option. Kiva lunged, throwing all her weight into a jump, as she slammed into the body of the reefmaker, knocking it free of the rock with her momentum. She paid the price, taking sharp coral cuts all over her body from the reef growing on the back of its hide like a suit of spikey armor. They slammed into the hard ground, together, a tangle of limbs and tentacles. Kiva put her efforts into a singular approach, driving the coral stake further into its eye, and into the brain. She grabbed a flat rock with two hands, even as she was pulled upward by her ankles, dangling as the thing a tried to rip her legs from her body. She ignored it, she was in enough pain already, what was a little more?

Kiva bashed the rock repeatedly on the coral stake like a hammer. Oozing blood sprayed over her face as she was covered in the aftermath of her attack. The coral spike drove deeper, disappearing into its brain, and she dropped ungracefully, and painfully, to the ground as the creature entered its death throes.

Kiva remained still, unable to move, and in more pain than she’d ever experienced.