Rojuun
Page 37
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Tathan moved ahead at a low run. He ignored Marrraa’s warning. The life of a scout was always dangerous. That was part of what he liked about the job.
It wasn’t long before he found one of the creatures limping around in a circle. One of its legs was missing and another was broken halfway up from Marrraa’s spell. It stopped and turned its head to the side. Tathan stopped as well. He saw the gill like openings, about ten of them, on the side of the head where the ears would be on a normal creature. They opened and closed in a ripple effect from front to back.
The sstejj was tapping the ground as though searching for something. Tathan figured it was trying to feel vibrations in the ground, which would be futile since he was standing absolutely still. He carefully picked up a rock and tossed it to his right.
The sstejj dashed to that area. When it found nothing, the monster remained, puzzled as to where the vibration had come from. The gills on the side of its head flared, searching for the scent of its prey. Tathan had watched the movement in order to learn. The sstejj moved like a fast spider. There were no leg muscles for a leap, which was good considering Tathan hated creatures that could leap.
It caught his scent again and took a few steps toward him. Tathan saw movement coming from the center of the cave. It would be bad to give the creature’s friends time to gang up on him.
Tathan stomped his foot twice and readied his sword as the sstejj dashed toward him. The injured legs caused the monster to swerve to the right of where Tathan stood. As it passed, Tathan thrust his sword into the soft body between a pair of legs. The blade slid easily and Tathan pulled it out just as fast.
The creature screamed, jerking its head around in reaction to the wound. Tathan ducked easily underneath the snout as it swung past. It gave him a good view of the gills, so he decided to poke his sword in one to see what would happen.
He almost lost his sword as the head jerked back around. The creature fell to the ground, screaming. Tathan jumped back and watched the monster writhe in pain. It went through a few death throes before falling still.
The shapes in the distance were moving in his direction. Looking past the body, he saw about twenty more sstejj approaching. That was more than he was willing to handle by himself. Tathan jogged back toward the rest of the party.