The vartek was blinded, but it was far from finished. Its response was to spit out the remains of the second cow, splattering us with blood as it surged up onto the grass, its many legs scrabbling for purchase.

My staff, still embedded in its eye, was snatched out of my hand, and I fell backward. I rolled over, came to my feet, and drew the Starblade. I studied the vartek’s many thin legs. They had a slimy yellow coating, and I remembered Grimalkin’s warning—they oozed a deadly poison, so I had to keep away from them.

The witch assassin had already renewed her attack, hurling three blades in quick succession into the beast’s throat and soft underbelly as it attempted to climb out of its burrow. Now she was rushing toward it again, a long blade in her left hand.

To my surprise, I suddenly realized that Jenny was running past me, heading straight for the vartek. She stopped a little to the left of the massive jaws. The retractable blade at the end of her staff glinted in the sunlight as she buried it deep into the side of its neck.

“Watch out for its legs!” I warned, running toward her.

But the immediate threat came from another direction. Although blinded, the vartek clearly had other senses to guide it. One of the tentacles scythed toward Jenny, the sharp tip heading straight for her head.

Just in time, I managed to bring my sword around in a circle, cutting the tentacle off just above the bone, so that it flicked backward, spraying us with blood. Then I went for the throat, swinging wildly into the soft flesh, each deep cut bringing forth spouts of fresh blood to soak the grass.

At last the vartek was weakening; its tentacles lay inert and useless. It shuddered and gasped, opening its mouth wide to reveal the rows of movable teeth. And then it let out a deep sigh, its foul breath washing over us. With that dying breath, its legs buckled. It had not managed to climb out of its burrow, and now its body slid slowly back in until only its head was visible.

“It’s a pity it didn’t emerge fully,” Grimalkin said, wiping her blades on the grass as she tugged each one from the creature’s throat. “I would have liked to see its full length. My fear is that this creature is still far from fully grown. Imagine what a score of these could do to a human army!”

There was much to discuss, but this was not the place to do it, and so we left the village almost immediately.

Once the cattle had been rounded up, and the farmers and villagers had finally summoned up the courage to approach the green, they would be asking plenty of questions. The presence of a witch would further complicate matters, so it was best to get away as quickly as possible.

As we walked, I saw cattle milling around in the distance, and people staring at us from outside the nearest cottages. Perhaps my brothers were among them, but it made no difference. There was no sense in staying to offer explanations.