his dagger and plunged it into the head of the beast.
The beast screamed, then let out an awful hissing noise, and reached up with one of its tentacles to try to grab Thor’s hand. Thor slashed the beast again and again, and his brothers came running up and slashed it, too. Finally, it let go of Reece and turned to the others, opening its small mouth and spitting out a liquid right for them.
Thor dodged it, but the liquid grazed the arm of one of his Legion brothers, and he screamed and clutched it, smoke rising from his sleeve as the acid ate away at it.
The beast dropped to the desert floor and scurried away. A few Legion hurled daggers at it, but it went too fast for them to hit. In moments, it was gone.
Reece clutched his arm, bent over in agony, and Thor draped an arm over his shoulder.
“You okay?” Thor asked.
Reece bit his lip and shook his head. “I don’t think so,” he said.
Thor looked down and saw the wound—and was aghast. There was a large, circular spot on Thor’s arm, and the wound was deep, oozing green puss and blood. O’Connor, beside him, tore a piece of linen from his shirt with his teeth and wrapped it around Reece’s arm to staunch the bleeding.
“The venom of a Forsyth is toxic,” Elden said grimly, analyzing the wound. “It will spread through his system. It will paralyze him. If we don’t get him help soon, he’s finished.”
Thor looked over at Reece, who looked more pale than he’d ever seen and who started to shake.
Before Thor could react, suddenly there came a noise, a distinct clicking noise, and he looked over with the others and his heart stopped.
From out of the cave there slowly crawled another Forsyth, pausing at the entrance, then slowly creeping towards him.
Thor and his brothers slowly backed up, one step at a time, Thor helping Reece.
“On your horses!” Thor commanded. “Let’s get out of here. Now!”
It was the first time Thor had ever commanded his fellow Legion members, and strangely enough, it had come to him naturally. He did not seek a leadership role, but it felt comfortable to him, and he felt that he could help the others, who were paralyzed with fear, by taking charge for them.
As it crept closer, they all mounted their horses—all except one. A Legion boy, a couple of years older than Thor, who Thor did not know, the one whose arm had been sprayed. He defied Thor’s orders and stayed put.
“I will not run from an insect!” he yelled.
He reached into his waist, took out a short spear, and hurled it at the beast.
But before he could even release the spear, the Forsyth sprang into motion. It was the fastest thing Thor had ever seen, and in a split second it was in the air, lunging for the boy.
The boy, to his credit, reacted quickly—all of his training in The Hundred must have sank in. He leapt up onto his horse a second before the thing got his leg; it missed him, but it kept flying and instead clung to the leg of his horse.
The horse neighed and pranced and kicked its legs, as the beast wrapped itself around him and would not let go.
After a moment, the horse let out an awful shriek, then stiffened and fell over on its side, the boy still on it.
The boy struggled, but could not dismount in time; he found himself falling with the horse, the horse landing on top of him and crushing his leg. The boy shrieked in agony.
Thor jumped off his horse, dagger in hand, ready to plunge it into the Forsyth, but before he could reach it, an arrow sailed past him, through the air, and landed right into the center of the beast. It let out an awful scream, and acid sprayed everywhere; luckily, the acid was blocked by the horse, and it ate away at the horse’s skin instantly.
Thor looked back to see O’Connor holding his bow.
“Nice work,” Thor said to him. “Give me a hand!”
The others all rushed over to him, helping to pry the boy, moaning in pain, out from underneath the horse. Conven slung him over his shoulder, and draped him across his horse.
Before they could all remount, suddenly, a noise rose up, and Thor’s heart stopped as he looked over to see a dozen more of those things appear at the entrance of the cave. They all paused, then slowly began