Seeing something shift from behind the pile of treasure, J'role raised his head and beheld a horrible white shape climbing over the top of the glitter, sending a small avalanche of gold skittering to the floor. The thing's body was broad and fat, something like a giant larvae, except that it had countless human arms, small arms, like the arms of children, growing from its sides. It used the arms to crawl to the top of the treasure, then sat looking down at J'role and Garlthik with large milky-white eyes. Its mouth was a huge mandible that opened and closed, opened and closed, dripping a thick, clear liquid.
When it spoke, it startled J'role and Garlthik, for it seemed impossible that such a thing would be capable of speech.
"J'role, J'role," it said. "I am so happy you have come." And as the thing spoke, J'role felt the same words crawling about in his head.
The creature on top of the pile of treasure said, "You don't know how fortunate I felt when you became a seeker of this city, J'role. I have been trapped here for so, so many years. I thought, ‘Here is my chance for freedom.’"
Garlthik looked down at J'role, confused, but said nothing.
J'role could do nothing but stare at the creature. He could not imagine that this bloated monster was the thing in his head.
"Oh yes. Oh, yes. I've been feeding all this time. Your pain and the pain you have caused others has been quite tasty.” The creature open and shut it mandibles, and thick spittle dribbled down onto the treasure. “I have o say, you’ve lasted longer than the others.”
“Others?” J'role thought.
“Others,” the creature said sadly. "Usually the child will commit suicide long before now.
Then I — my thoughts- wander the world, looking for other suitable parents who will make a deal. You'd be surprised how many there are … Well, no, I suppose you wouldn't." The creature laughed, and its bloated body quivered. "I kept waiting for you to finish yourself off and free me … But then you put the ring on, and I realized you might be able to find me, so I encouraged you when I could. I gave you my memories of the city to goad you on. Then you were so tiresome at times that I decided to make you kill yourself after all and take my chances with someone else. But now I am so proud of you.
Of course, I seldom ever get to actually consume my victims."
The creature's small hands scrambled forward over the pile of treasure. When enough of its body hung out over the top, it slid down, pouring toward Garlthik and J'role. The two of them split off to the left and right as the thing slithered across the ground between them. It was as high as J'role, and snapped at his thigh as it rushed by. In his fear, J'role dropped the torch and scrambled up onto a pile of treasure.
Garlthik swung his sword at the creature, but his blade bounced off, leaving no more than a scratch on what seemed to be a chitinous skin. "Grab a blade, boy!" Garlthik called.
"We've got to-!" He stopped as the creature turned on him and snapped its mandibles at the ork's arms.
J 'role looked about at the many weapons dotting the treasure room. He spotted a sword, grabbed it by the pommel, and drew it out from a pile of gold. The metal was cold and the sword heavy in his hands, but he raised it high and rushed toward the creature. A feverish heat passed through his flesh now. Not only did he want to save Garlthik and prove his worth to the ork, but it was also the chance to kill the thing that had caused him so much torment.
The creature's back was to him, and he felt the thief magic pouring through his body as he rushed forward. Just as he began to swing the blade down, the creature reared up, pulling his head around to face J'role and grabbing J'role's arms with several of the arms growing from its body. The small hands felt moist and rotted, and a foul odor rushed out of the creature's mouth as it spoke, "No surprises from you, J'role. You and I are too close."
The creature laughed, then gave out a horrible shriek. J'role looked past the creature's face and saw Garlthik pulling his sword out of the creature's back; the blade dripped a thick white liquid.
The creature threw J'role away, sending bits of treasure scattering around him. J'role grabbed his blade and rushed back at the creature, who now had Garlthik pressed against the wall. His attack turned the creature, and Garlthik was free.
The two of them kept up this tactic for a long time, attacking from one side and then the other. But the creature seemed to possess limitless energy, and the fight wore much more heavily on Garlthik and J'role.
Finally the creature turned and caught J'role by surprise. Its mandibles snapped down on his arm, snapping the bone in two. For a second J’role saw only a white void, then an incredible pain coursed through his arm, numbing all his ability to take action. He staggered backward, dropping his sword, and fell to the ground.
Garlthik, breathing heavily, looked at J'role, then at the creature. Then he said to the creature, "I leave him to you, if you will let me be."
As he cradled his broken arm against his chest, a sob rose up in J'role's throat.
"I'll have you any way I want," the creature answered. "I have no need to bargain with you."
Garlthik gave out a cry and started swinging his sword wildly, showering the creature with blows, driving it back across the room.
A trick, J'role thought, trying to convince himself. Garlthik had attempted a ruse to throw the creature off guard. But it was to no avail. The creature charged forward into Garlthik, biting at his mid-section. The ork gave a terrible scream as blood sprayed across the walls and the treasure. He dropped his sword and collapsed to the floor. As the creature tossed Garlthik against the walk J'role saw a huge dark hole in Garlthik's body.
Slowly the thing turned toward; J'role. "Alone again," it said, both in the room and in J'role's thoughts. "Have you ever noticed how alone you are? Even the people you come to depend on leave you in the end." It began to crawl toward him, the arms pushing it along the floor. It moved slowly, wary of any quick motion on J'role's part.
J'role felt the pressure of tears against his eyes as the terrible thing got closer. Hadn't everything been getting better? Wasn't he finally going to be free?
"I want you dead so very, very much. You can understand that, can't you? It's time for you to take your life. Do you understand? After all-this time, your death will be the most remarkable …" The creature did not finish its words, but purred instead.
J'role was paralyzed with fear, terrified of dying, but wishing it would be all over once and for all. He could not bear the thought of what would happen to him next if he left the chamber. He thought, "I don't want to die."
"Oh, I think you do. Think on these things …"
Memories rushed into J’role’s thoughts, every horrible thing that had happened since the creature had arrived as a white shadow in the kaer years and years earlier. The whispers at night. The ritual in which his mother had put the thing in him. His mother's insanity.
The stoning. His father's drinking.
The memories seared his thoughts. They crashed into his senses, alive as if he were living them all at that moment. H couldn't stand the pain.
"One more memory for you, boy," the creature said. "I kept this one deep, just for this occasion."
J'role is in bed s mother is performing the ritual, touching her fingertips against his chest.
J'role is frightened. He feels the thing entering his head.
His father stands beside the bed. His father?
"Must we do this?" he asks.
"We've already been through all that," she replies.