It was late afternoon when Malcolm and Sven emerged from the tunnels. As word of Sven’s ‘treason’ spread, an increasing number of Toe Goblins had joined the hunt, scouring the tunnels for signs of the fugitives. Although the duo did their best to avoid the pursuers, a few Goblins felt the butt end of Sven’s spear.

They were able to slip out of a lesser-known exit, but it would not be long before someone remembered its existence…or followed the trail of unconscious bodies.

Free of the cold stone at last, Malcolm stared at the sky with delight, his smile beaming. It’s been days since I‘ve seen the sky. he realized, flopping onto the ground. And grass! I never thought I would miss grass! He basked in the warmth of the light, stretching out on the soft green hillside.

Sven shuffled impatiently next to him. “Hurry up you lazy human. We still aren’t knowin’ if they followed us yet, and personally, I’d rather not be findin’ out.”

“Alright then. But you should try relaxing sometime, and then maybe you would be a little less….” Malcolm chuckled, waved his hand at the Goblin. “... stern.”

“Silence..” Sven whispered frantically. He pressed his ear to the ground, listening intently. Malcolm followed suit, confused. A faint grinding noise could be heard, like that of a file on metal. It grew steadily louder, doubling in volume every second. Sven leapt up, eyes full of fear.

“Run!” he stated. Confused, Malcolm raced after him. Legs pounding against the soft turf, he glanced back to where he stood only second before. Instead of the smooth hillside he’d been lying on, the ground was heaving, with only the grass roots holding it together.

With a low thump, the bubble burst, and the hillside exploded, spraying Malcolm and Sven with clumps of sod. As the dust settled, the cause of the eruption became apparent. At the center of the crater, writhing above the ground, was a worm.

As tall as a horse and ten times as long, its pale tan scales reflected in the sunlight. Half of its body was still inside of the hole it had created. The entire face-end of its body was taken up by a circular mouth filled with rows of razor sharp teeth, which were spinning around as if on gigantic rings hidden within the flesh.

The leviathan flopped back and forth in the decimation, and screeched. The earth shook with its cries, shaking up the dust into a cloud. As the explosion of sound echoed forth from its gigantic mouth, Malcolm fell to his knees, hands over his ears

The pain was unbearable, as the noise overloaded his eardrums. Swallowing, he faintly tasted blood. Malcolm could feel himself screaming with agony, but the noise was swept away beneath the worm’s deafening screech. Looking across the hillside, he saw Sven in a similar position, the Goblin’s face twisted in agony.

At last the creature grew silent. Sven shouted something from further down the hill, his words lost in the ringing of Malcolm’s ears. Stumbling to his feet, he chased after the Goblin.

The earth shook as the worm flailed on the ground, enraged that its prey was escaping. It heaved several times, hawking up clumps of dirt and stone as if clearing its massive throat. Then it reared up, opened its mouth, and spewed.

Hundreds of thousands of normal-sized worms flew from its mouth, momentarily blotting out the sun in a black cloud. Perfect miniatures of their parent, they wiggled with surprising speed towards Malcolm, crawling over each other in a race to be first to the meal.

The gigantic worm dove back into the dirt and began to tunnel beneath its hordes of children. The grinding noise returned, as the creature burrowed through solid rock. Pushed out of the way by the worm’s burrowing, dirt mounded up above the creature, marking its progress.

Malcolm glanced back, heart pounding. He’d caught up with Sven, but the Goblin was beginning to slow, his breaths coming in short huffs.

The mini-worms gained ground on their prey. Now only a few hundred feet away, they screeched in anticipation, higher pitched than their parent’s, but just as blood-curtailing. We will consume you. They seemed to say, leaping forwards. You will not escape. Malcolm ears still rung, but he could just make out the cries.

Sven tapped Malcolm on the shoulder, pointing to a downwards slope to the right. Nodding that he understood, Malcolm followed the Goblin, pushing his legs to their limits.

Ahead of them rose a large wooden bridge. About 10 yards long, it perched precariously above a wild river. Most likely, it had been erected years before by a farmer or hunter who needed easier access to the hills. But years of neglect had eroded the posts and boards beyond repair, as it now lay abandoned.

Rotten wood cracked beneath Malcolm’s feet as he ran across, threatening to dump him into the swirling river below. A weak board broke under his weight, sending his foot into the frothy water. Yanking his foot loose, Malcolm continued, boot sloshing as he moved. He managed to make it across without any more incidents, but the structure was leaning at a nasty angle.

The mini-worms paused for a moment at the far edge of the bridge. A commanding screech breached forth from the earth below, echoed by the worms on the surface. The leviathan’s soldiers set forth, crawling over every exposed piece of wood, covering the bridge in a writhing mass of bodies. The wood sagged under their weight. With a sudden snap, a plank gave way, dumping its load of worms into the river below. The remaining worms streamed around the gap, continuing their pursuit.

Ignoring the approaching worms, Sven crouched by a post, rubbing something in his hands. Malcolm backed away as the worms grew closer, now almost three-quarters of the way across.

“Sven!” he shouted, ears still ringing from the leviathans’ cry. “Sven! What are you doing?! We have to get moving!”

“Silence human!” Sven snapped back. “I’m almost done.” Moments later, he stepped away from the post, brushing off his hands. “Any second now…” He mumbled.

WHOOSH!

An entire support column of the bridge burst into flames, consuming worms as it spread rapidly through the old dried wood. Grinning, Sven held up a flint-and-steel before tucking it back into a pouch.

High-pitched squeals filled the air as the flames consumed the worms. Their charred remains fell from the flame-covered wood, splashing into the water below.

Those still unburned scrambled over each other in a desperate bid for the safety of the land. On the far side of the bridge, the ground shook as their parent thrashed underground, writhing in the screams of its spawn. It drove deeper into the ground, and tunneled back towards Toehalla. The few remaining mini-worms followed from above, streaming over the ground pushed up by their parent.

“Come on.” Sven said, once the flames had died out. “The Toe-Worm will not be followin’ without its children. We have a few days until it be givin’ chase again.”

“That’s a Toe-Worm?!” Malcolm replied, eye wide with surprise. “Like the ones that made Toehalla?” He paused for a second, thinking. “If that’s a Toe-Worm, then what are the little ones? Toe-Maggots?

Sven looked rather insulted “Perhaps… But you shouldn’t be jokin’ human. We are lucky to have survived.”

The duo spent the next hour or so scavenging unburned-scraps from the bridge to use as firewood for the night. The hills were tree-less, and every little bit of fuel would be needed to survive the coming days.

Finding a small hollow at the base of a hill, they hunkered down. While Sven built a small cooking fire, Malcolm shot a few rabbits with the bow they had taken from Toehalla. The fire was extinguished as soon as the hasenpfeffer was done, so as not to draw the attention of any Northern Tribesmen in the area.

For the first time since entering Toehalla, they feasted on meat. I’m not going to miss those wafers. Malcolm thought, biting into his juicy haunch. It wasn’t long before the meal was finished and they settled down for the night. The Toe Goblins would not dare venture out of Toehalla as long as there was the threat of the Tribes.

They were safe…. for now.