“Talk!” Jorick shoved his sword through his belt then flung his hands in the air. “Why do you always want to talk? It’s a monster! Can’t you just throw your knives at it and make it talk?”

Evin clenched his fists. “What is wrong with you lately? Just calm down and I’ll—”

At that moment, a massive ball of phlegm landed in the dirt at their feet, bits of spittle splashing onto their boots. Reflexively, both Evin and Jorick jumped back.

Evin looked up. The ormyrr towered above them, its teeth bared. It cleared its throat, then hawked another giant loogie to the ground.

“I is searching!” it boomed. “I will make you meal iffing you not shut it! Unless …” It rubbed its many hands together. “Do you be seeing things? Nice things?”

Jorick scowled. “What? What things?”

“Things!” the ormyrr said. “I be searching for so longs for things. Gnollies had interesting things, many of them, gears and magic and oh! Such wondrous things!”

Darting forward, the creature leaned over its bulbous body and looked Jorick in the eye. Its massive face was as wide as Jorick was tall. “Be giving things, I be helping find gnollies, yes?”

Evin took a tentative step back. The ormyrr’s hot breath washed over his face. It smelled of fish left to sit out in the sun for three days, and his stomach roiled.

“We have no idea what you’re talking about,” Evin said. His voice was confident, but he couldn’t keep his hand from trembling. “We don’t have any … things. All we had was in our food sack and you crushed it.”

“Wells,” the ormyrr said, turning its gaze to Evin. “Then I needs to open up you and see if anything interesting inside you.”

The ormyrr’s froglike lips pulled back farther and farther, revealing its rows of razor-sharp teeth. All four of its pudgy hands clenched into fists. Slowly the ormyrr’s terrifying, shredding mouth opened wide.

“W-wait!” Evin cried as he grabbed Jorick’s arm and began to pull him away. “Wait, we—”

Hundreds of bright white sparks flashed above Evin’s head, right in front of the ormyrr’s face. The flashes were mesmerizing, like dozens and dozens of fireflies flitting around in a summer evening.

“Oh,” the ormyrr said, ceasing to move. “Ohhhhh is BOOTIFUL! So WONDERING!” Rearing back to its full height, the creature reached out with its arms. As its hands shoved amid the fluttering circle of sparks, the image rippled like a reflection in a pond and the sparks disappeared.

Evin blinked at the sudden absence of light. In the time they’d taken to run from and then run to the ormyrr, it was now almost fully night. But the ormyrr didn’t hesitate. It rushed forward toward something it saw behind Evin and Jorick. Both boys dived out of the way just in time to avoid being crushed by the creature’s massive body.