Fate of the Forsworn
Chapter 9
The Nightmare Beast
Kyvoster reared onto his back legs, preparing to leap into the air and blast the approaching monstrosity with a torrent of fire when the beast struck, smashing into the red dragon's midriff with enough force to wind the male dragon and send him stumbling backwards, gasping for air. Scarlet blood stained Kyvoster's middle, three gouges showing where the beast had torn into the dragon's thick hide. Sarrarra and Niev were both already on their feet, the former in the air, hoping to gain an advantage over the monstrous beast. Niev looked at the imposing figure in a mixture of terror, awe and horror. It stood on two tree trunk-like legs, and had two long arms. Its' posture made it look like it was hunched with age, but beneath its' thick, corded, dark brown skin rippled muscles of a strength that could exceed even a dragon's. It had a short tail to balance out its' enormous body, and appeared capable of walking on all fours as well as on just its' hind legs. Roaring deafeningly, Sarrarra twisted aside from its' first swipe, parried the second, and gashed the monster on its' shoulders with her jet-black talons. The monster roared in pain, and reacted with surprising swiftness for so great a beast. Snatching hold of Sarrarra's tail, it bit down, nearly severing the end of it. Sarrarra gave a deafening shriek of agony as she turned her attention to trying to claw the monsters' eyes out. As the two leviathans battled, Caryn got up and stared in horror at the monster, clutching her blankets to her. Her eyes streamed tears, showing that she was sharing her partner's pain.
"Niev, what IS that thing?"
Niev drew Ajunthar in one swift movement and held the silver blade ready.
"I don't know what it is, Caryn, but it's strong. Try to keep out of sight."
Caryn turned to face Niev in surprise.
"You're not going to fight it alone are you?"
Niev nodded silently, moonlight glimmering on his sword.
"But you can't, that's just utter madness! Look at what that beast has done to Kyvoster and Sarrarra in just a minute or two! Kyvoster has gashes that may well scar, and Sarrarra almost had her tail bitten off! Even all four of us together wouldn't win against that thing without some injury!"
Any response Niev might have given was cut off by the sound of the beast wrenching Sarrarra off it and hurling the yellow dragon to the ground. Sarrarra landed painfully but managed to regain her feet just as the beast began to charge her. She opened her jaws wide and spat a jet of brilliant flame at the charging monstrosity, and for several long moments, all four of them hoped that the fire had roasted the beast and killed it. The very second Sarrarra closed her jaws, a mighty blow from the beast hit her unexpectedly around the jaw, knocking her off balance and sending her staggering to the ground, where she collapsed. Caryn gasped aloud in their shared pain, unfortunately bringing the monster's attention directly to the two Riders. Niev slowly walked forward as the monster squared up to smash its' comparitively small opponents.
"Kyvoster, I'll need your help to kill this thing, I have a plan, just wait for my signal."
I hope it's a good idea, Niev, this foul monster is not something you can kill easily.
"Thank you for the encouragement."
I'm here to annoy you, partner-of-my-mind.
Niev smirked at his dragon's banter, and braced himself for the magic he was about to unleash. Tapping into the energy stored in Ajunthar's diamond, he flourished the sword and pointed it at the beast.
"Kveykva!"
A thunderous blast of sound assaulted his ears a mere second later as a bolt of lightning struck the beast. For a brief instant, the monster was haloed in bluish-white light, then there was nothing. Kyvoster regained his feet and snarled a warning to his semi-blind Rider not a second too soon. A massive fist hit the ground right in front of Niev, knocking the older Rider onto his back. In spite of the three gaping wounds across his chest, Kyvoster ran into the monster, knocking it clear over as he sank his needle-like teeth into its' left shoulder, snarling ferociously. Enormous hands, tipped with claws almost as big as Kyvoster's, reached to pummel the attacking dragon. Niev regained his feet shakily, dimly recalling what he'd been told about using so much energy all at once. Ajunthar's diamond was now completely empty, and the bolt of lightning had done little more than dazzle the beast. Another blaze of light told him that Kyvoster was trying a close range torrent of fire, but the beast seemed to be immune to both fire and any magic based attacks. Caryn watched the vicious struggle in silence as she looked over Sarrarra. The yellow dragon was looking distinctly worse for wear, and the ground near her was soaked in blood. Kyvoster pushed himself off the beast and whacked it mightily with his tail. The monster stumbled and fell back a couple of paces, knocking down a few old, dead trees in the process, but soon came back into the fray. A plan began to form in Niev's mind, prompting a crafty, if exhausted, grin from the older Rider. Hastily making his way to Caryn and Sarrarra, he outlined his plan to them. Sarrarra gave an exhausted sigh as she poured her energy into Ajunthar's diamond, stopping when she was willing to give no more. Caryn donated all she could, and then Niev mouthed the spell that would hopefully kill the beast. Kyvoster kept up the fight to hopefully keep the monster occupied. Niev took a deep breath and drew on Ajunthar's pent-up magic.
"Sverd Reisa!"
The sword was fired towards the monster like a bolt from a crossbow. Kyvoster managed to shove the beast off him enough to avoid being hit, and the silver blade struck the monster on its' skull. Such was the speed the sword was being propelled at, it penetrated the skull and emerged out of the back of its head. The beast roared in agony as Ajunthar hit the ground, sticking in the dirt at a low angle, but stubbornly refused to die. Roaring at its' assailants, it charged full tilt towards Sarrarra, Caryn and Niev, its' clawed hands swiping at the ground as if to scoop them up and crush the life out of them. Caryn and Niev managed to dodge, but Sarrarra was headbutted to the ground. Groaning in agony, the yellow dragon tried to get up from the dirt, but fell back down again. Caryn yelled to her dragon and covered her face, sobbing as she tried to run to her, as the monster raised its' fist for a blow that would shatter Sarrarra's rib cage.
With a bellowing roar, a third dragon dropped out of the sky and crashed into the monster. In the confusion of the brawl, neither Rider nor dragon could tell who their rescuer was. Slowly, the beast was being overwhelmed by the newcomer, who was substantially larger than either Kyvoster or Sarrarra, and the new dragon soon managed to thrust the beast back, bleeding and missing chunks of flesh from a dozen locations. Only then did the Rider climb down. By the moonlight, Niev could see it was an elf, and female too. A sudden realisation struck him as the elven Rider proceeded to slaughter the monster. Finally, with an elegant upwards slash, the elf leapt nimbly down from the monster and sheathed her sword. Behind her, the monster toppled forwards in death. The elf picked up Ajunthar and silently walked towards Caryn and Niev. Already her dragon was nosing Sarrarra. Kyvoster made no effort to rejoin his Rider, and was fully engrossed in cleaning himself of the gore of battle. As the elf drew closer, both Riders recognised her as Kialandi. Niev mentally prepared himself for a tongue lashing and a lecture on how weak and pathetic humans were when Kialandi held out his weapon to him.
"This is yours, Niev, take it. Greetings, Caryn."
Kialandi spoke coolly, but not in her usual condescending manner. Niev sheathed his sword, thanking the elven Rider as he did so. Caryn nodded in return to her greeting, but made no move to say more. Kialandi looked from the dirtied male Rider to the younger, more scantily clad female Rider.
"You lost your clothing in the swamps, Caryn?"
Caryn nodded.
"Yes, I did, Kialandi Svit-kona."
For the first time in her life, Caryn saw what could only be described as Kialandi flushing, however slight it was. The elf turned and went to her dragon, and returned with a change of clothing. She handed the mossy green and pale cyan tunic to Caryn, before turning to Niev.
"Please grant her some privacy, Niev. I daresay you should know how to treat a lady?"
Caryn giggled a little as she discarded the blankets to pull on the lamarae tunic. Niev smiled and turned aside. Caryn examined how the tunic fitted and felt, and was surprised to feel strips of a smoother material than the felt-like lamarae on the inside, mainly around her shoulders and waist. As she turned to ask Kialandi exactly what made her tunic such a pleasure to wear, Niev walked over to Kyvoster. The red dragon was semi-dozing in the moonlight, glancing at the recently deceased nightmarish creature he had fought so hard to slay. Niev climbed onto his back and scratched just below his dragon's ears. Kyvoster growled, but the amusement and note of relaxation were easily heard by one who'd spent any time around the half-breed dragon.
"Thoughts bothering you, Kyvoster, or your wounds?"
Both, Niev.
"Which is worse?"
The dragon snorted with amusement.
Neither is worse than the other for now, partner-of-my-mind
"Surely there's one thing irritating you most of all, Kyvoster? Is it Kialandi and her dragon?"
No. And if you pester me over this matter for much longer, it'll be you who's irritating me
At this, Niev laughed and rubbed harder. Kyvoster shut his red eyes as Niev used what magic he dared to deaden the pain around the gouges in his chest. Luckily, the beast had missed anything vital, and the three cuts were little more than flesh wounds. Reaching into the bond between himself and Kyvoster, he received the dragon's sleepy permission to use his own strength to close the wounds. Soon, there was no sign of the horrendous wounds, and Kyvoster was sound asleep. Niev got up off his dragon's back and approached Kialandi and Caryn, who were still talking. Kialandi seemed in the middle of an apology to the younger Rider.
"...I should not have acted so impolite towards you, young Caryn. My views are jaded because some human Riders have, in the past, been less than appreciative of their bond with a dragon."
Caryn shook her head, smiling.
"Please, don't worry about it, Kialandi Svit-kona."
Kialandi smiled at Caryn as the young Rider took the four Eldunari, forgotten in the madness of battle, to help heal Sarrarra. The beast's serrated teeth had almost severed the muscles in her tail, and both Caryn and her dragon were eager to undo the damage. Kialandi's huge dragon lay on the ground nearby, her wings spread protectively over Sarrarra. By now, it was approaching midnight, and all in the camp were exhausted. After finishing her healing with copious help from Uthur, Caryn cuddled down in the saddle and was asleep in mere seconds. Kialandi turned to Niev and spoke in a low voice.
"Niev, I followed you to bring you warning."
Niev looked up. Although he and Kialandi were of the same rank, at any time she could give him orders as dictated by Vrael, or vice versa.
"What is it?"
"You're needed to go to the Beor Mountains soon."
Almost immediately the human Rider knew what was coming. He sighed as Kialandi carried on.
"It's so you can complete the task your father was set over a hundred years ago. Strange beasts have emerged from there, and this creature you fought today might be one of them."
Niev nodded slowly.
"Will you accompany me?"
For a long time the elf woman was silent. Then, just when he felt sure she would decline, she agreed to and turned to retire for the night. He bedded down under Kyvoster's wing, out to the world until dawn. In the small hours of the morning, none of the occupants of the camp saw the shape of a dragonish being flying hastily south, soon followed by a second.
I hope you all enjoyed this as much as I did writing it. I must confess, I was heavily inspired by The Force Unleashed, where you fight Maris Brood's bull Rancor. I did think for ages about a name for this monster, but an unknown, nightmarish monster that can give dragons a run for their money sounded equally as impressive. Next chapter coming up soon!