Chapter 13: Belly of the Beast

Georgia groaned as her eyes tried to adjust to her surroundings. There were blinding, fuzzy lights all around her. She thought she heard music in the background but couldn’t quite hear it. Her limbs felt heavy, and she couldn’t move. She steadied her breath, trying to take stock of what was happening. She had fallen. But she wasn’t on the ground anymore. It felt like she was laying on fabric. A bed or a sofa? Georgia focused on the song. She knew it but she wasn’t quite sure.

In the distance she heard the squeak and pop of a cork. Liquid pouring.

“Ugh!!!! I hope you die!!!! I hope we both die!” She heard herself sing screaming from a distance.

Her other self roared as glass shattered somewhere. The bathroom door slammed, and water began to run.

Georgia tried to get up, but something tugged on her. She looked down as vines and roots wrapped around her arms and legs. She couldn’t bring herself to scream as they pulled her from her resting place and dragged her across the floor and out the door. She was outside in the forest again. The plant life pulled her upright, squeezing at her limbs.

“You have to get up. You have to find me.” The same voice from before husked.

“But I…”

“You have to get up! You have to find me!” it shouted as the roots and vines squeezed tighter.

“But I don’t even…”

“GET UP AND FIND ME GET UP AND FIND ME GET UP AND FIND ME GET UP AND- “

Georgia gasped as her eyes snapped open. It felt like she had been hit by a truck. “Jesus let’s not do that again.” She groaned.

“Georgia! Georgia!”

“Miss Georgia!”

“Child? Child are you alright?”

“D-down, down here! Down here!” Georgia shouted back.

She waited a few moments before she heard her friends clamoring to the hole.

“Are you alright?” Virgil asked.

“I don’t know. I haven’t tried to move.”

“We’ll come down to you.”

“No, no everyone shouldn’t come down. Maybe one or two to help me up. See what’s down here.”

“Alright, you hold on now.”

As Georgia waited, she managed to dig out Virgil’s lighter from her pocket. She flicked it on, surprised at the illumination it provided. A few moments later Virgil, Drusilla, and Suzu were at her side. They lit some torches to provide more light.

“Are you hurt? Anything broken?” Virgil asked.

“I-I don’t know. I don’t think my arms are, was able to grab the lighter.”

“I will check her.” Suzu volunteered.

After a quick examination, it seems like Georgia was walking away with some nasty bruises, two broken ribs and sprained ankle. Suzu and Drusilla wrapped her wounds, and Drusilla gave her some herbs to help with the pain.

“We should head up and rest until you’re better.” Virgil suggested.

Georgia shook her head. “We don’t know how much time Yume has. Besides, we should at least look down here before heading back up.”

“You sure about that?” Virgil asked pointing to a trail of dried blood a few feet from where they were standing.

“No,” Georgia admitted. “But we’re here.”

***

The deeper they traveled into the pit, the wearier Georgia became. Trails of bloods and body parts littered the path. Everything inside Georgia screamed for her to turn back, but something was drawing her in. Something was calling to her. That’s when they saw it. Vast riches as far the eye could see piled to the ceiling. Before Georgia could go on any further, Suzu raised an arm in front of her.

“This is a dragon’s lair. It’s not safe.”

“She might be in here.” Georgia replied.

“And she might not be. Something doesn’t feel right. We should go back.”

Deep down Georgia knew this was the right decision. However, there was something in that room calling to her. She couldn’t ignore it. Whether it was the siren call of greed or not, she needed to go in there.

Georgia let out a deep sigh. “You and Drusilla head back. Mr. Washington and I will take a quick look.”

Virgil’s head whirled towards her in disbelief.

“Are you sure? I appreciate you wanting to find Yume, but not at such risk.”

Georgia nodded. “Yeah. Don’t worry. We’ll be in and out.”

“For both our sakes I hope you’re right...” Virgil grumbled as he followed behind her.

***

Slowly, quietly, Virgil and Georgia crept deeper inside the lair. It was dark and damp, a heaviness pervading the air. She wasn’t sure what she was looking for, but she’d know it when she’d see it.

“Here…” She heard a voice whisper.

Georgia’s head snapped to Virgil, but it was clear he hadn’t spoken.

“Here…here.” The voice whispered again.

Georgia gulped as she pressed on towards the voice.

After what felt like an eternity, she saw a sheathed, curved sword laying among the riches. It didn’t look like anything fancy. The grip was bloodstained leather as was the sheath. But there was something about it.

“Take me.” It seemed to whisper.

“Huh.” She said. She turned to Virgil who raised an eyebrow at her. He wasn’t hearing it.

“Take me. Use me. Feed me blood.”

This gave Georgia pause. This was crazy, she was crazy.

“Take me. Use me. Free me.” It insisted.

Convincing herself the talking sword that only she could hear was in her head, Georgia picked it up and unsheathed it. Despite its simple trappings, this thing was special. It was a twenty-inch, double edged blade with four curved cutouts forming a cross shaped riscasso. The cross guard was in the shape of antlered deer head. She put the sword back in its sheath and turned to Virgil.

“Let’s get the hell out of here. Doesn’t look like she’s here.”

“I thought you’d never say that. Let’s go.”

They were halfway back to the entrance when they heard a deep rumbling behind them followed by heavy footsteps. Virgil extinguished the light they were using and pulled Georgia behind a pile of gold. The footsteps grew closer. Georgia wasn’t sure whether she wanted to hyperventilate or scream. She clamped a hand over her mouth as the beast growled mere inches away from them. When the footsteps and breathing disappeared, the pair stumbled towards the entrance.

Although it was risky, Georgia pulled out the lighter to get their bearings. The entrance was straight ahead. She flicked off the light, but it was too late. Mere inches away from here was the beast’s head, it’s enormous yellow eye and slitted black pupil bearing into her soul.

“You were too slow. Too bad you won’t have better luck next time.” The dragon snarled.