Inside the Beast

Inside the Beast

Ahead of me, the great beast roared from the pit. It seemed to be in pain. Its huge mouth opened and closed quickly again and again. A stench came from within. " Atenga, what is that thing?" I asked my guide. " It feeds the group, Wanderer of the Wastes. It is our protector, the Great Ice Beast Egdirf, from the frozen north. "

I stepped forward toward the edge of the pit. Below, the skin of the creature lit up like silver moonlight dancing on black water. The guide hung back, fear in his eyes. The beast roared again, its stench and pain filling the air. " What do you do with it?" I asked the guide. He replied, “ We feed it, and in return it feeds us. We place food inside its mouth. The beast will protect what is placed inside it from the desert heat. We then feed from it like fleas from a dog. When we're done, we leave the leftovers for the beast. " " Well, something has made it sick, " I said. " I can tell from the stench that it's ill. "

" Wanderer, what are we to do?" Atenga cried. " Without the protector we will waste away to nothing. " I turned to him, my jaw set. “ Someone's got to get in there and remove the cause of the illness. "

Atenga turned and ran. This probably wasn't the first time the beast had been ill. I almost left my guide and his brothers to their fate. Without the ice beast's powers, their stores of fresh food would go bad in the desert heat. The beast would soon infect all that it protected. The food would be covered in blooming black mold. But . . . I sighed. The ice beast did not deserve to be eaten alive from the inside. Its only crime had been to protect food for Atenga and his brothers.

" All right, I'm coming in there, " I said to the beast. Its mouth opened wide and all became still and quiet. " What have they done to you now?" I asked. The stench filled my nose and mouth as I reached inside the beast's jaws. My eyes began to tear. I started to scrape orange gunk from the beast's insides. The gunk was old fruit that had rotted and oozed over everything.