Obligation

Think! She scolded herself angrily. Something had to be done and it had to be done fast! She gripped the branch above her head and steadied herself in the security of the highest limbs.

Something slowly dawned into an idea…the branches! Studying them while in a wild frenzy, she spotted exactly what she needed; a thick, fairly straight shoot, possibly within reach. If she stretched carefully she could get her hand around it…and she did! Pulling and tugging with all her muscle, while her hands slid along the slippery goop, it finally relented to her and snapped.

“Jamie, whatever it is you are planning; I forbid it!” Darjo tossed over his shoulder as he strained to look up at her.

His order never faltered her well-thought intentions. She sent down a brief, reckless smile. The unseen creature had managed to tow him only a few feet from where he was first attacked. She eyed the jagged edge of wood where it had splintered and broken free from the tree. Then she tried to recall exactly where the boiling and bubbling sand had ceased.  Not far beyond Darjo, she estimated.

“Jamie! No!”

Ignoring him, she concentrated and then spotted again the possible location of the hidden beast. It hardly surprised her to see the sand in that area swirling again. It bowed slightly as something started to rise from beneath it. That was her target! She had to aim for the center! If she missed—don’t think about that now—she had to confront the beast before it drew any more advantages. Whether that meant defying Darjo or not.

Sucking in a substantial breath, thinking it could very well be her last— she jumped! She cleared Darjo by the appropriate distance and as she landed, rammed the jagged branch into the heart of the mound. Everything worked just as she had anticipated; but what she hadn’t anticipated, was the Sand Beast’s reaction…

Darjo tried only now to free himself from the slackened member that had held him just as the embankment exploded up from under her feet. The area around them shook violently before Jamie could regain her balance. The initial impact had not only brought sparkling dots spinning before her vision, but also something yellowish-brown oozing and spurting from where she had planted the thick branch. A hideous wail rose from under the sand…and then it appeared…

At first sight and through the irritating light-dots, she couldn’t tell where the sand ended and the beast itself began. The color was nearly identical, but the roll of limbs flying wildly about it was unmistakable. If there were any eyes on the creature, she couldn’t detect them, but they obviously could detect her. She imagined it was facing her; for the branch remained protruding from the top of the beast and it had turned in her direction.

Her fleeting senses hadn’t yet been fully reinstated when it started to bear down on her. Its harsh and ear-piercing cry gripped her long before the realization that she was going to die.

She was totally unaware that Darjo had managed to free himself and limped back to the tree for a second choice branch. His strength well exceeded hers, even in his weakened condition; and he used all he had left to turn and attack.

His aim was well placed, for his knowledge of the Sand Beast also exceeded Jamie’s. He found his goal under the head and giving off a cry, the beast spun just enough to allow his aim to be true. The Sand Beast stiffened without a sound and fell toward the human.

“Look out!” he shouted a warning. But the oversized creature fell between them, blocking her from his sight. The feelers continued to thrash about in the sand with a will to continue, even without the assistance of the living body. It took much longer for them to find death as unavoidable as the body had. Slowly, one by one, they stopped and laid limp against the scorching grains.

Stumbling and dragging his useless leg behind him, Darjo worked his way around the huge dead mass. He found Jamie pinned under the upper head, his makeshift spear only inches from her shoulder, preventing her from being crushed. Her complexion had become pasty-white and drawn; but she held onto consciousness.

“Get it off!” she begged, her voice rising with uncharacteristic hysteria. He found it quite understandable; for what she faced was the haven of eyes. Several hundred of them, all small black orbs that reflected with almost a mirror image whatever dared to look into them. The beast was dead, but the eyes never closed.