Steel and Fangs

by Sami Dougish

  I undid his belt and pulled the pants off the man. I quickly shucked my own rough spun pants and stood naked in the night. I then grabbed the pants and did my best to pull them on. While they were able to fit around my legs and waist, they were tight, and I was barely able to get into them. Fortunately, it had seemed that they had been too big for Merric, as his belt had been cinched quite tight, so I guess it was better than nothing.

  I slipped the belt around my waist as well, and thankfully the belt had been much larger than the man had needed, and it fit snugly around my waist. I didn’t bother with any of their shoes, as I was pretty sure none of them would fit. I had been barefoot for years, and another week or so wouldn’t make too much of a difference. Besides I’m sure there would be ample boots and shoes to pick from when I dealt with the bandits at the village. I glanced at the chainmail but quickly decided against it. It looked to be too small for me as well, and I left it where it was. I would have to do without armor for now as well.

  Now that I had the clothes that I wanted, I turned to the selection of weapons I had taken from the men. There was an assortment of daggers, on the ground. They were mostly poor to average quality steel and iron daggers, but I might find a use for them later on. They were light, and wouldn’t be much of a burden to carry, I placed two in my belt, and the remaining sheathed daggers went into one of the sacks the men had. The hammer was easily a keeper, it was the best weapon here in the lot, and the one I was most familiar with. I discarded the sword, as I preferred to just use the hammer for now. The shield though would be useful. One could almost never go wrong when choosing a shield, and I could wield it in one hand, with my hammer in the other. At least until I acquired a second hammer or mace. Even then having a shield to use would be handy.

  There was a limit to how much I could practically carry though, and I decided that the hammer, the shield, and the daggers were all I would take for now. Even though Cedric’s bow would have been useful if I needed to hunt later, I never really had learned how to use one properly. I vaguely remembered the small shortbow my grandfather had taught me to use when I was younger, but that was so long ago, I barely remembered. No time to learn now either.

  The last items I examined were the supplies they had brought with them. The bags had contained a mix of meats, fruits, and vegetables. My stomach growled, and I realized it had been nearly two days since I had been fed. Still, I didn’t want to eat before having to fight a large group of bandits. None of the food was preserved either, and wouldn’t last me very long on the road. Still, I couldn’t resist taking a quick bite of one of the pieces of fruit. I didn’t recognize it, but it had been a long time since I had been allowed a sweet treat such as this. Even after being given a better diet, which had consisted mostly of meats. My kind could survive on purely meat raw or cooked, which was thought to be a left-over trait from draconic ancestors. That didn’t mean that we did not enjoy fruit, pastries, or other such foods.

  After enjoying the morsel, I wiped my mouth and threw the sack over my shoulder. That was when I remembered the chest they had been carrying. I leaned down and looked at the box. It was small, only a foot long, and half that wide. It had a small lock on it that was slightly rusted. I quickly pulled out my hammer, and with a hard swing, smashed the hammer into the lock.

  There was a loud crack, and the old metal of the lock easily broke under the heavy swing. I flipped the latch back and opened the chest. Inside was a collection of coins. The currency used in my people’s village had just been goods from hunted animals. I had seen the currency of this continent, but I never really learned its value. I probably could have if I had pressed the issue with the other slaves, but between none of the slaves wanting anything to do with me, and never really expecting to be free, I hadn’t paid attention to the money. I wasn’t sure if what I saw before me was worth a lot, or barely anything at all.

  “Raskorian, do you recognize this currency,” I was getting used to speaking in my head, and I thought I might as well try and tap into the dragon’s knowledge. I was met with a resounding snort.

  “I have been in the reliquary for 100s of years, and as a dragon, I never had use of the lesser races coin other than to collect it in my hoard. Do you honestly think I would have an answer for you?”

  “A simple no would have sufficed!” I shot back angrily.

  “Ah yes, a simple answer for a simple-minded fool. I see the merit in that suggestion.”

  “GRRRRRRR!” I growled loudly. I was really tired of this guy’s attitude. I had to deal with such arrogance as a slave, and now that I was free, it was infuriating that I had to deal with it now as well. What made it worse was he was in my head!

  I did my best to distract myself from my anger by focusing on the gold before me. There was a jumble of gold and silver coins. Once again, I didn’t know how much it was worth, but I knew gold was valuable, so I hoped this was a substantial amount. I quickly dumped the contents of the chest into the sack on my back as well. I would need the gold later anyways, and I was sure I would be able to figure out the value of the coin when I started to buy supplies with it.

  Now satisfied that I had all the useful equipment here, I turned in the direction that the dead Cedric had indicated. I was able to see relatively well in the clearing I was in, as the lack of trees allowed the light of the moon to illuminate the area. The forest I was about to venture into though, was pitch black. The thick canopy made by the trees made it nearly impossible for the moon's light to penetrate the top of the trees. This in turn made the forest nearly impossible to see in at night. Still, I needed to get moving.

  I would have to rely on my nose and a torch. I moved back to the fire that the men had built and picked up one of the larger pieces of kindling they had gathered. There was plenty to pick from, and I grabbed a piece of wood that was long enough to act as a torch. I moved back over to the pile of discarded items and grabbed all of the spare clothes. I began wrapping layers of cloth around the head of the stick and made myself a makeshift torch. I still had plenty of clothing left over from the bodies, and I went about making myself several other torches. I didn’t think that the wood in my hand would last all the way to the village, and I wanted to bring other torches I could light, once the current torch burned too low. I then grabbed one of the bottles of spirits they had with them. I had never tasted alcohol before, but I did know it could be combustible, and whatever this was smelled strong. I poured a measure over each of the torch's heads and waited a moment for the strong alcohol to coat the cloth of the torches. Once down, I reached into the fire and quickly snatched a small piece of wood that was burning at the end. I held it to the end of my first torch, and after a second the torch caught fire and illuminated the surrounding area.

  I took a deep breath of the surrounding bodies, and let my tongue flick out and tastes the men’s scent. It was an unpleasant mixture as the men smelled as if they hadn’t bathed in several days, but the strength of the smell would make it easier to follow back to the village.

  I held the torch high over my head to provide as much light as possible and moved to the area where the men had first emerged from the trees. Once again, I reached out with my senses, and after several seconds, I tasted the faint stench of the men I had just killed leading off in this direction. Steeling my resolve, I moved off into the forest proper and was swallowed by the darkness of the forest.

  Navigating through the forest at night turned out to be as difficult as I had feared. The light of the torch did illuminate the area around me, but it also cast shadows, which flickered eerily as I walked through the forest. I tripped, and stumbled numerous times, over roots, potholes, and other such obstacles. I tried to walk as quietly as possible, but it was made difficult, as I couldn’t keep my attention on all the obstacles in front of me. Most of my attention was given over to the effort of maintaining the scent of the men I was following. It was impossible to tell which way I was going with just my eyes. I knew the general direction of the village, but in the
dark of the forest, it was easy to stray off track. This was why I had to rely heavily on my sense of smell.

  As long as I was able to follow the direction of the scent, I knew that eventually find the village I was searching for. I was moving at a very slow pace, however. I assumed that the bandits had moved through this area with greater ease as they had more torches and someone who had grown up here. I however had no such luxury and had to content myself to stumble through the area as I tried to avoid breaking twigs and walking into branches.

  An unknown time later, I knelt down to ignite the second of my sticks I had brought to act as a torch. As I was lighting the torch, my sense picked up another scent in the air. It was close and was not a scent that I recognized. It smelled like some sort of animal though, and I was immediately on guard. The moment the torch caught fire, I stood, up, and swept the torch around me, looking to see what my nose had picked up.

  I couldn’t see anything, but now a familiar tingle ran through my scales. That tingle always accompanied the presence of another being near me that I was unable to see. I moved my torch to my left hand and slowly drew my hammer. I turned around in a circle as I searched for whatever was stalking me. Then I heard it.

  I whipped around at the sound. It was the sound that paws made as they quickly pressed off the ground in a leap. As I turned around, I spun the torch with me and caught sight of the monster leaping out at me. I didn’t recognize it, but that was unsurprising as I had never really had a chance to study monsters, and I hadn’t lived in this area.

  Still, it was big, furry, and had long fangs. Good enough for me. I growled at the thing as it came flying at me in a leap that was aimed at my face. Not hesitating, I dove forward, and rolled under the leap. The monster growled in frustration as I evaded its first attack. It landed gracefully and spun around with incredible speed. I could now see the monster with far more clarity, and I studied the appearance. The monster had a total of six legs, three on each side. They all ended in wicked locking claws that were easily two inches long apiece. Its fur was a dark brown, which had easily blended in with the darkness of the forest. I could see the corded muscles under its fur, and I guessed it was extremely strong. Its head looked as if a goat had bred with a snake. It had scales that lined its cheeks, but large ram-like horns that protruded from the sides of its head. Its teeth were barred, and I had an easy view of the sharp fangs lining its mouth, and the saliva that dripped from the monster’s mouth.

  I had no idea what kind of monster this was, but it was damn impressive. I had only sensed it due to my heightened sense of smell, and my razor-like instincts. Even then it had nearly landed on me when it first attacked. The beast seemed extremely fast, and it looked like I would be getting a trial run of my newfound speed sooner than I had expected.

  I matched its growl and bared fangs, with a growl of my own. The two of us circled each other wearily as we studied each other. The monster must have recognized a fellow predator in me and seemed more cautious now that its initial attack had failed.

  I on the other hand had no intention of waiting any longer. I flexed and then shot towards the monster in a quick leap. It seemed my own speed surprised the monster, as it was slightly slow to react. It leapt to the side, to avoid my hammer strike, but was not fast enough to dodge the brand of my torch that quickly followed the movement of the monster. It hissed in pain, as I shoved the torch into the monster’s torso.

  Still, the beast wouldn’t be defeated so easily. In a complicated movement, it bunched all six of its legs, and with a mighty push, leapt back from the torch, and landed with all six feet latched to the trunk of a nearby tree. Almost immediately after it landed, it leapt back off from the tree at me. I growled and whipped my hammer back around, my increased speed allowed me to get my hammer into position fast enough to intercept its strike. The hammer whistled through the air and caught the beast in one of its middle arms. I felt the bone break, and the monster howled in pain. Still, it had failed to fully stop the monster’s momentum, and it crashed into me.

  I did my best to spin with the blow of the creature, and I used its momentum, to turn with the blow, and throw the animal away from me. It did manage to score a deep cut into my chest though, and I felt hot blood run down my chest from where the beast had managed to score my chest with its claws. Even injured the animal landed gracefully and spun to face me. It had pulled its injured leg up to its torso and now stood on five legs, two on its left, and three on its right.

  Still, I had no intention of letting the beast rest, and I sprinted towards the monster. Once again, I marveled at the new ability, I had to haul ass when needs be. I closed the gap between me and the monster, and once again took a vicious swipe at the monster with my weapon. The beast growled, and in a similar motion as before, bunched its legs, and sprang away.

  “Not this time you bastard!” I growled.

  Instead of waiting for the monster to land on a tree and spring back at me, I quickly followed through with my strike, and used the momentum, to swing it back around my head, and throw it at the animal. Combined with my new speed, and the momentum of my body, the hammer flew like an arrow, spinning through the air. It struck the animal mid-leap and connected with a meaty THUNK. As if connected to the weapon by a rope, I followed closely behind the weapon.

  The animal howled again, as the hammer caught it directly in its side, but had little time to recover, as I collided with the monster and bore it to the ground. I had drawn my dagger and began immediately plunging the blade into the monster. Blood sprayed all over my face, and torso and the monster howled and keened as I mercilessly stabbed it again and again.

  The fight was over, but the monster wouldn’t go down without a fight, its claws lashed out, and opened long cuts over my body, and tore through my thicker scales as well. Still, my hand rose and fell without end. Finally, I saw my opportunity, and I was able to slam the bald into the eye of the creature. I pushed forward, searching for the thing's brain, and a split second later I felt a slight give, and the monster went limp. I must have finally found its brain.

  With a tired huff, I pushed the monster’s bulk off me and lay there for a few seconds, panting. The fight had been hard, and brutal, but quick for the most part. Still, I couldn’t rest for more than a few seconds. I was bleeding from multiple gashes and claw marks caused by the monster. The worst of the cuts were from the long a gash the monster had torn in my chest after it had leapt from the tree. The torch was fortunately still burning where I had dropped it, and I quickly reached for it, before it had a chance to spread its fire.

  I didn’t have anything to bind my wounds unfortunately, so I would have to cauterize. Not wasting time, I drew my second dagger, and placed the handle in my mouth, and bit down hard. I then reached over to the animal, and with a wet SQUELCH, pulled the blade out of the beast's eyes. Wiping the blood off as best as I could on the animal’s fur, placed the dagger in the flames of the torch, and let it heat up. Once done, I removed the now hot metal from the flame. I bite down, and without waiting, pressed the blade over the bloody gash on my chest. I groaned into the stick, as the hot metal burned closed the wound, and several seconds later, I pulled the hot metal away from my skin. I spit out the blade, and breathed hard, as my vision swam from the pain. The wound no longer bled, but now pulsed with hot pain, as my skin reacted to having been burnt closed. I was still bleeding from other wounds, but these were nowhere near as deep and would stop bleeding soon enough. I didn’t have anything to clean the smaller wounds with and mentally kicked myself for not having brought a bottle of spirits with me. The alcohol would have cleaned my smaller wounds perfectly.

  Thankfully most of the smaller wounds had been made when I was wrestling with the beast. When I had body-slammed it, it had landed awkwardly, on its side with the three good legs, and I had pinned it down to keep it from using those three sets of claws against me. Its other two good legs didn’t have the angle to easily scratch me. Therefore, the wounds it had inflicted had been relati
vely minor. They still hurt though, and they just added to the pain that was pulsing from my chest.

  Still, I didn’t have time to sit here whining about the pain. I had been hurt worse before, and I had survived. This was just another recent pain that would fade in a few hours. Hopefully. Either way, I needed to keep moving. With a slight groan, I got to my feet and went to retrieve my hammer and two daggers. Once secured, I took one last look at the bloody and broken animal. It had been a good fight, and the beast had been a worthy opponent. I would remember the beast by the scar I was sure to get once my chest healed. I bowed my head in a quick acknowledgment of the beast and turned to continue my journey.

  Chapter 4

  The rest of the journey was even slower than before. My improved speed didn’t help very much when I couldn’t see where I was going. My chest throbbed as I walked, and it distracted me from my surroundings. I tripped and walked into more branches because of it. Still, I pressed on, one step at a time, always following the scent of the men. Eventually, though, I began to smell other scents on the air. Smoke was the first scent I caught wind of, and it was shortly followed by the familiar smell of civilization. I must have been getting close to the village. After another thirty minutes of stumbling around, and I finally saw lights ahead of me. They were distant, but the thinning of the trees was a good indication that there was a village ahead.

  Now that I had another source of light other than the last torch held aloft in my hand, I quickly shoved the torch into the earth, extinguishing it. No need to announce to everyone that I was out here in the woods. I was now close enough to hear more of the sounds coming from the village. I heard raucous laughter that was followed by women’s screams, which was usually followed by more raucous laughter.

  It seemed the bandits were still enjoying their captured loot. As callous of a thought as it was, I was glad they still were. It meant they were most likely drunk and would be easier targets to take out. I crept closer to the village, eye listening for anything nearby, but as of now, the only sounds I heard were coming from the village. From what I could see it wasn’t a large village, not small either. I couldn’t see the houses very well though since there was a large wall that circled all of the town currently in view. It was only twelve feet tall or so and should be easy enough to scale, as long as there were points, I could grab onto. I moved closer and closer to the village and listen as more and more sounds and smells were becoming more distinguishable. Still, I wasn’t confronted yet, and from what I could see of the few torches on the wall, no one was keeping watch either. I had seen many walls in my times in the various slave camps, and they were always manned at all hours of the days. These bandits seemed not to have the same discipline. They were either incompetent, or they felt nothing was around that could threaten them. Either way, I didn’t care, I would be able to use this to my advantage.