Ch.
13
           From a distance Nami could tell that Xi was struggling
against something, but she couldn’t see what it was.  There was desperation in her movements, but
she was still too far away for Nami to completely make out what was going
on.  The leviathan continued her rampage
below, moving various devices from their usual spots and exposing the Calculi hiding
amongst them.  Xi wasn’t moving, and if
Nami didn’t help her, she was done for. 
Just as she was about to take flight, a familiar face appeared at the
other end of the platform.  Jericho
approached her with vicious speed, his countenance more serious than she had
ever witnessed.

            “We are leaving NOW Nami! 
Come with me, I will lead us to safety.” 
He immediately grabbed her arm and began tugging it along.  He did not move very far before stopping,
however.  A strange look upon his face,
Jericho momentarily peered out at the distance. 
It took all the strength he could muster not to cry as he turned to face
Nami and embraced her with both arms.

            “I am sorry, my haste, please understand, I…  I am so glad you are alright.”  The ever watchful and caring father-figure
that Nami had known and loved could not keep itself from creeping to his battle
wearied exterior.  Nami returned the hug;
his chest shone a warm violet light on her face in two distinct rays.

            “Listen, Nami, we cannot stay here, it is too
dangerous.  You are coming with me.  Have you seen the others?”

            A sharp sadness pierced the recess of Nami’s memory as
she instantaneously recounted the events of Leigh’s death in her mind.  However at that moment she decided not to
bring those terrible circumstances up, focusing instead on those friends they
could still help.

             “There!  Jericho,
in the distance!  Do you see her?  It is Xi, she needs our assistance!”  Jericho gazed in Xi’s direction.  He was immediately stricken with a very deep
fear, not for his own well-being, but for that of his disciple, who struggled
in vain against the inexorable bonds which held her.  There was no doubt that the giantess would
soon notice her as she continued her merciless hunt for any remaining Calculi.

            “Please, we must go to her!  We must help her!  Jericho, please we must hurry, for the large
one will surely crush (this word was a bit shaky as Nami spoke) her if she is
found!!”

           Jericho seemed unsure of himself.  For the first time in her life, Nami could
sense weakness as she looked into his eyes.

            “What is the matter? 
Please, let us go now!”

            “Nami, I… we cannot… we cannot go to her,” he winced
“There is no way for us to save her.”  As
he said this he put the tips of his thumbs in the crevice of his eyes closest
to his nose in what Nami took to be a posture of defeat.

            “What, what do you mean we cannot go to her?  We HAVE to go to her Jericho!  That is Xi who is trapped over there, can you
not see?!”

            “Nami, the device, the device she is stuck to.  I have seen it before.  It has a singular purpose, and that is to
capture unsuspecting prey as they fly through the air.  We will not be able to pry her from it once
we reach her… we, we will not be able to. 
If we attempt a rescue, all we will do is endanger ourselves.  We cannot go to her.”

            Nami was in disbelief. 
This was Jericho, her protector, her father of sorts, suggesting that
they leave one of their own to her fate. 
The events which had been transpiring over the course of the last hour
were so foreign to her that she momentarily lost her judgment and sense of
self.

            “Jericho, what are you saying?  You would leave her to die?  Mariah… you would leave her to, to perish??!!  I… I… I need help… Jericho, please do not
make me do it alone.”  Her tears had
renewed as she looked at him, unbelieving, her magenta chest practically
pulsating as she spoke.

            There was a rare sternness developing in Jericho’s
voice.  “Now you listen to me, young one,
you listen to me!  I am the guardian of our sect, nobody
else!  You will do as you are told and
come with me… you will come with me now!”

            “Jericho… 
Jericho.  Please…”  Her words were broken.  Nami was flooded with a swell of emotions the
likes of which she had never before experienced.  Sadness, preparation, betrayal, fear, anger,
every feeling her adrenaline saturated limbic system could conjure up seemed to
be reeling itself to her forefront, choking her words back into her throat.

            “Please tell Aieté I am truly sorry about Leigh.  She is under the softbox against the window
in the main hall.  Ensure that she
receives a proper funeral… I think she deserv… I think…”  She could hold her tears no longer, but
rather than stay to face her guilt, she took to the air in the direction of her
helpless friend.

            “NAMI, NAMI NO!!” 
Jericho reached out to grab her, but was she was already out of arms
reach.  A combination of his pleading and
Nami’s takeoff was enough to catch the attention of the leviathan below.  Before Jericho could take off after her one
of those enormous hands came steaming at him; the giantess had jumped from the
floor to try to capture one of the two. 
Although failing to grab a hold of him, she managed to knock him backwards
to the hard surface of the platform. 
Jericho slammed the back of his head against its surface, rendering him unconscious. 

            Nami had already made it halfway across the room before
the giantess had turned to pursue her once again.  The checkerboard pattern of the stone (as far
as she could tell) floor below made her dizzy, so she kept her eyes straight,
growing more and more impatient as Xi grew closer.  Xi had been too preoccupied trying to free
herself from her bondage to notice Nami’s arrival.

            “Xi! Xi!  I am here
now.  What is this that has you
entrapped?”  Xi’s hands and knees were
perpetually stuck in a submissive position on what appeared to Nami to be a
large, thin strip of waxy paper which was suspended from the ceiling.  Similar to the material the inside of the
leviathan’s blocks were composed off, this paper was covered in a sticky, gold
film which ensnared Xi’s appendages, holding her in place.  Although she wasn’t sure, Nami thought she
recognized a slight fragrance of dried meat radiating from its surface.

            “By Isabella Nami what are you doing here?!  You should be back at home in the safety of
Sanctuary!”  Her voice had a drastic tone
to it, as if she were dreading some fateful impact.

            “I am here for you now Xi!  What is this awful substance that has you so
consumed?”

            “I do not know, I do not know!  When the large one entered the room, I.., I
could not believe she had returned!  I
flew away as fast as I could but did not see this contraption.  As soon as I touched it I could feel this
slime creeping its way up my hands to my wrists.  It is like some sort of glue.  Do not touch it, or you will be trapped as
well!”

            “I need to get you out of here!  I will not leave you, I promise I will not
leave you!”

            Xi desperately looked at her friend.  Her eyebrows were crinkled over her eyelids
and her lips were quivering.  “Don.. don’t
be foolish Nami!  Go now!  Go now and (she blew a puff of air out of her
mouth hard) leave me to my fate!  Do not
make me responsible for your death…”

            The leviathan, having forgotten about Jericho, turned her
attention to Nami and Xi, a sense of satisfaction gleaming in her face.  The two Calculi looked down to see her
staring up at them, ready to attack. 
Because she was not tall enough to reach them where they were (they were
very close to the ceiling in the corner), the giantess went to retrieve
something to stand on.

            Xi snapped her head back on Nami.  “GO, GO NOW! 
Please, please, please do not wait here Nami!  I am done for, but you can escape!  Please, Nami, my best friend, do this for me,
do not die with me!”  She was openly
crying as she pleaded with her.

            “Xi you be quiet, quiet yourself right now!  I am not leaving you!”  With those words she took Xi’s head in her
arms and the two of them sobbed together. 
If her arms were not stuck in place, Xi would have hugged her back.

            With the leviathans’ return, their fates had been
sealed.  She carefully positioned herself
on one of the wooden chairs from the table and appeared directly level with
them.  Her face, menacing, cast a shadow
over their bodies, sucking every emotion out of them except agonizing
terror.  They creatures at each other for
a while; the only light between them was being cast from the chests of the
Calculi.  Nami continued to hold Xi’s
head as she looked right into those massive orbs, each of which was larger than
she.  She could make out every intricate detail
of that face, from the gleaming layer of fluid which covered the tops of her
eyes to the miniscule folds defining her light pink lips.  There was no smile, nor a frown.  The giantess remained stoic, revealing
nothing more than a peculiar curiosity as her image.  Nami continued looking on, too fearful to
move.  The back of her throat felt like
swelling shut.  It was only her reassuring
embrace with Xi which kept the hemolymph flowing properly throughout her body.

            Those massive hands scooped the two of them up faster
than either Xi or Nami could move their head to see it coming.  Submerged in blackness, the insects could
still make each other out from their own intense glow, Xi’s a dark orange
color, Nami’s a bright white.  There was
a thud as the leviathan jumped from her stool, slamming Nami into the soft
fleshy wall of their temporary prison. 

            “I am scared, Nami…,” Xi trembled.

            “I am too.  Stay
with me.”

            There was indistinct clattering outside, and suddenly
Nami found herself being forcefully jammed into a large container.  Unable to contend with the wall of flesh bulldozing
her downward, she allowed herself to fall to the wooden floor below.  The ground itself was not solid, but was
instead made up of several maroon pieces which maintained a pleasing
scent.  As she looked around, Nami became
more and more horrified.  Four glass walls
surrounded her, connected at each of their corners by a superimposing glass
ceiling, which the giantess was quickly closing off using a sliding door.  Taking a moment to regain her senses, Nami got
up and flew to the door just as it had closed, effectively trapping her
inside.  She watched as the leviathan
walked off with her friend, leaving her in sadness and isolation.

            “Xi! Xi!  Please,
large one, do not hurt her!”  Her cries fell
on deaf ears, however, as the giantess had already rounded the corner into the
adjoining room.