A coward and a liar

The sound of something sliding its way towards her just worked to assure Noor that the worm was still on her trail. It had probably eaten the other two she'd abandoned and now it was looking for desert. She struggled to get her breathing under control, basically failing completely. Noor knew well enough that survival instinct was the strongest force in her body, much to her shame and consternation.

So despite the despair she felt, how much she felt she could accept her approaching death when the sound seemed stop she could help but feel relief, maybe she had somehow truely escaped. And then sudden movement and Noor jolted, a fearful yelp struggling to escape her throat. She was trying to jump to her paws, head craning to find the threat.

Neither really happened, while she first managed to get her paws under her, the gash in her flank screamed in protest and her right hindeleg crumpled, and not helped by her already weakened state, she slammed her left shoulder into the nearest wall. And of course the figure approaching her wasn't the worm at all.

Noor's throat felt like it was tightening up. No no no no! It just kept happening. Fable was already in more danger just by virtue of Noor having stumbled upon the continent. Now she was in the war path of a giant worm.

The words Fable croaked out barely even registered, just a blind panic filling her. "Run!" It was the only word she could think to say. She winced and tried to find the space in her chest to do anything, anything at all to get Fable away... The smear of red the elderly woman had left flashing in her mind, and she retched again. "Monster worm." She rasped once her stomach stopped heaving again, unaware that while not everyone had survived their own encounter one of the casualties had been the worm itself; leaving just two survivors.

"Speech"