by Sami Dougish
Protruding from its bulky shoulder were two powerful looking arms that were completely covered in scales. The arms ended in a paws that had a large sets of claws. Extending from the spiteclaws elbows were long obsidian-colored spikes that came to a razor-sharp point at the tip. Its hind legs were similar but had inverted knees that looked like they could propel the beast forward in large bounds, I imagined it helped with the beast’s acceleration as well.
That wasn’t all the unique aspects of the spiteclaw, however. Protruding from its rear was a long tail, that was covered in numerous spikes that seemed to be able to flex, as I saw them do just that, lying flat against the tail, appearing almost invisible, before I saw the tail flex, causing the spikes to stick out again.
The spiteclaw was obviously fighting with all its might against the men dragging it out of its pen, but despite its best efforts, the ropes that the handlers had tied around its legs and arms for leverage did their job well. I growled unhappily though, I didn’t like to see such a magnificent beast caged and fettered in such a manner. Raskorian apparently agreed with me as I heard his rumble of disgust from my mind.
“Well, there you have it, your very own spiteclaw, feel free to try and mount the beast though!” Orizmad said with a laugh of amusement, “If you can tame him, he is yours, if not, I will keep the beast, and give you a horse instead, your choice.”
Before laying eyes on the spiteclaw, I would have been upset, feeling as If I had been given more trouble than it was worth for a pack animal, and possibly a mount to ride, but now that I saw the beast, I didn’t care what it would take, I would master this beast, and take it with me on my journeys.
“Any idea on how to attempt to tame this beast?” I asked Raskorian, as I kept a close eye on the raging animal.
“It is a predator, and judging from experience, this particular Moroklau is of exceptional breed. Its nature is to establish its dominance over its territory and its mates. Your best bet would be to beat the animal in a fair fight and force it to submit to you. You are part reptile, and so is the Moroklau. Fight it, beat it, and it will recognize you as the dominant one here.”
“Oh well thats easy, I will just jump into a hand-to-hand fight with a vicious beast that has claws that can disembowel me with a few good swipes.”
“Stop complaining vessel, no power comes free, and no power worth having will just be given to you freely. You have your own claws remember, and while the beast is extremely fast, it is still a child, it will not have its full adult agility for some time. With your already fast reflexes, paired with your upgrade you should have a chance at forcing the beast to submit to you.”
I had forgotten that Orizmad had said the spiteclaw was an adolescent, “That is just a child?! What will it look like fully grown?!”
“Much the same, just bigger, faster, and far deadlier. You must claim it for yours now if you wish to make use of this beast.”
Coming to a decision I called over to Orizmad, “I suggest you go and get that healer; I have a feeling I will be needing her soon enough.”
“What are you planning?” Orizmad asked curiously as he looked at me
“Just get the healer!” I growled impatiently; I was watching the spiteclaw with a mad anticipation. What I was about to try was beyond stupid, but instead of the perfectly rational fear I should be feeling, all I felt coursing through my veins was a heady excitement.
Orizmad shrugged, and gestured for one of his nearby men to come over. He gave him some orders, and sent him running off. When he turned back around, I thrust the naginata towards him. I didn’t like handing my weapons off to anyone, but I wouldn’t be using them in this fight, and as long as Orizmad’s oath was in place, he was the only one here I would trust to hang onto my weapons. I still didn’t like it though.
With a raised eyebrow, Orizmad took the weapon in hand. I then pulled the hammer and mace from my belt, and set them next to the dwarf as well, quickly followed by my knives and pack.
“Oh sure, treat your host and the leader of a smuggling syndicate like a pack mule why don’t you!?”
I ignored him, and just stared across the large enclosure, directly at the spiteclaw. To my surprised satisfaction, the spiteclaw seemed to sense me as well, and I saw it whip its head around, and stare directly at me. It ceased its violent attempts to break away from its handlers, and instead began to growl menacingly at me. I didn’t flinch, instead just return the gaze with equal intensity. I knew that it sensed a predator in me, and I it in return.
As if in response to the spiteclaws attention, I felt my own inner animal rear its head, and try and assert itself, and send me into one of my blind rages. I held it at bay for now, soon enough I would unleash its shackles, and I would meet this predator as one monster to another.
“That is it vessel, embrace what you were always meant to be, an apex predator. We will bend this beast to our will, and it will serve us faithfully!”
It took longer than I would have liked, but eventually healer Marin showed up, and to my irritation Oktai bounced along behind her, followed by Micah, Primus, and Adarossa. Behind them was another group of around twenty people. I didn’t know why any of them were there, but it wouldn’t matter, they would be out of my mind the moment I jumped into the enclosure with the spiteclaw.
“What do you want now Orizmad?! I have my hands full checking all of the men you rescued, why do you summon me down to this smelly pen?!”
Orizmad shrugged, and said, “Blame him, he requested your presence, not me.”
Marin looked over at me, and raised an eyebrow questioningly and said, “Well have you decided to let me run some more tests on you then? If not, I don’t know why you wanted me down here, last time I tried helping you, you literally threw me out of your room!”
“He did what?!” Oktai asked with a snort, as if trying to control a fit of laughter.
“Never you mind, you Easterling halfwit!” Marin barked at Oktai, who just laughed in her face as a response.
Adarossa, Primus, and Micah didn’t say anything, but I could feel their angry gazes on my back. I promptly ignored them, still gazing at the spiteclaw down below. Now that Marin had shown up, I began to undo the latches and knots on my armor that was keeping it attached to my body.
I heard Micah speak up behind me as he addressed Orizmad, “Well we all came since we heard from the messenger that you were going to let him,” he gestured at my back, “Try and claim the spiteclaw. You can’t be serious boss! You know how much of a pain it was to catch the beast!”
“Yes, I was a part of the team that grabbed it for you,” Adarossa added and out of the corner of my eye I saw Primus grunt in affirmation.
Orizmad shrugged, still holding my naginata, which actually looked quite comical seeing as it was over double his height.
“It is his if he can tame it, it’s costing me more men and gold to take care of it then I believe its worth. If we can’t train it, we can’t sell it for a price that’s worth all the trouble it takes to care for the beast. Plus, he has to be able to control it, if he can’t, he will get a horse, and be on his way.”
“But-“
“Enough, I am set on this decision, and you will not change my mind. Do not waste your time, and even more importantly don’t waste mine.”
Oktai with his seemingly permanent smile bounced over to where we were standing, and said, “Well I’m just here to watch what Zatara does! He is full of surprises, and I was in the middle of a archery competition, so I invited the rest of the of the competitors to come watch. I told them that Zatara will always provide a good show!”
I finally took my eyes off the spiteclaw, and shot an irritated look at the bouncy man. I wasn’t some damn circus animal. Shaking my head, I turned back to my task. I just needed to think of this as another arena fight. I had certainly fought more than my fair share of those.
As I was finishing loosening the last of my armor, I told Orizmad, “Tell your men to release the spiteclaw from its tethers, and t
o get out of the enclosure. Leave the ropes in there though.”
Orizmad looked at me taken aback, and asked, “Um, are you sure about that? The beast is eyeing you like a side of beef.”
I didn’t answer, and just continued taking my armor off. Orizmad rolled his eyes, and called out his orders to the men in the enclosure. They all looked relived, and at once, they all released their grips on the ropes, and bolted for the opening in the metal fence as fast as their legs could carry them. To everyone’s surprise, but my own, the spiteclaw didn’t chase them, and instead kept its violet eyes fixed on me.
“Well that’s new,” I heard Micah comment to Primus who nodded confusedly in return.
I finally got the last of my armor off, and I was left in the light shirt, pants and boots I wore. Before I could say anything else, Orizmad spoke up again, and in a tone as if he just realized what I had been doing, asked, “Um why are you taking your armor off? You do see the claws and teeth on that bastard, don’t you?”
I ignored him, and deciding that the shirt and pants I still wore wouldn’t serve any purpose other then to get ruined, I pulled them off as well. I heard numerous inhalations of surprise and disgust now that my scales were on full display, but I ignored them as well, my attention was focused solely on the spiteclaw now, who’s growling had increased to a heavy rumbling.
“You see vessel?! He recognizes you as a threat, that stance mixed with that sound are what the Moroklau do when they sense a challenge. He his warning you not to challenge him. Force him to submit and claim him as ours!”
I smirked in response to the dragon’s excitement as it matched my own pounding heart. I was going to enjoy this. If I died doing this, then at least it would be to a fellow predator, and not some filthy human or slaver.
“You don’t actually intend to go in like that Zatara!?” Oktai said with a look of disbelieving concern.
“Let the lizard, it will get rid of him for us, and we can keep the spiteclaw,” Adarossa called out, her words were met with several calls of agreement.
I started to walk forward, when Orizmad grabbed my arm, and tried to pull me back. I reacted instinctively, and wrenched my arm free, and turned back to face the dwarf.
“What!” I growled, eager to get into the enclosure with the spiteclaw.
Orizmad struggled to find the right words, and instead just said, “This is stupid! I’ll just give you a damn horse, no need to try and impress me anymore! Consider me impressed.”
I turned back around, and marched to the spot in the chained barrier where a door could be unlatched from the outside.
“You are unarmed! At least take a weapon with you. I didn’t pledge you my protection just to let you get eaten by a fucking spiteclaw you idiot!” Orizmad desperately called after me.
I smirked, and reached out and unlatched the door. I then turned around and held up my hands for them all to see. I willed my body to produce my new drake claws, and before all of their eyes, my hands grew scales, expanded, and the where before I had hands, I now sported two gleaming sets of talons.
“Gorshag’s hairy ass!” Orizmad exclaimed as he took a step back. I saw looks of surprise flash across everyone’s faces before I grinned evilly, and said, “I am never unarmed dwarf!”
I then turned my back to them, and gave all my attention to the spiteclaw, and stepped into the enclosure with the spiteclaw. I heard someone hurriedly run up to the door behind me, and shut it, trapping me inside with the monster. I eagerly flexed my talons, and bounced from foot to foot. I let my grip go on the animal fighting my control, and my vision immediately turned a shade of red, and my heart race seemed to increase three-fold. The pain from the growth of my caws throbbed painfully, but it only fueled my desire for this fight.
The next second, the Spiteclaw let out a roar that seemed to shake the walls, and charged. I grinned, and released my own animalistic roar of challenge, followed by a roar from Raskorian that only I could hear, but the power behind the sound dwarfed that of me and the spiteclaw. I charged forward to meet the beast in the center of the large enclosure.
Just as Raskorian had said, the spiteclaw was fast, nearly too damn fast for me to follow, but thankfully with my natural speed, paired with my enhanced agility I was able to keep up with the movements of the spiteclaw, but just barely. When we were ten feet apart the spite claw leapt straight towards me, flying through the air like and arrow. Teeth bared, saliva falling from its maw as it aimed to bite my head off. Knowing I had no chance of meeting such a charge head on, I dove under the monster’s leap, and did my best to roll under it.
I felt the rush of wind as the monster flew over me, and as I came out of the roll, I saw the tail of the monster swing around as it tried to clip me with it to make up for its missed attack. Instead of rolling, I jumped over the incoming tail, as it whipped straight through where I had been a split second ago. Before I had even touched down, the monster had landed, and spun around and came at me again, slashing its arms in vicious swipes. I ducked, and dodged, backing up the entire time as the monster came withing centimeters of ripping my face off. I had yet to make an attack, and had spent the first part of this dance just trying to stay alive.
My luck ran out though when the spiteclaw showed a level of intelligence that surprised me. When it swiped at me with its left paw I went to sway back and out of the way, but it stopped its strike, and instead twisted around, swinging its muscular and barbed tail straight at me. I didn’t have time to dodge this time, and instead pulled up my arms to let the scales there protect my fleshy torso.
The tail caught me squarely in my crossed arms, and I felt my feet leave the ground, as I was launched up back a good fifteen feet, until I slammed into the spiderweb of chains that kept the enclosure secured. The wind was knocked out of my lungs, but thankfully the heavy scales on my back kept me mostly intact, but my arms that had taken the blow from the spiteclaw were throbbing painfully, and I saw several punctures the tails barbs had made in my arms. Thankfully my newly reinforced scales had held up well, and my bones hadn’t broken. Still, it felt like someone had smashed a club into my forearms, and I gritted my teeth trying to ignore the throbbing pain.
My relief was short lived though, as the moment I fell back down to the floor, the spiteclaw was bounding towards me roaring in triumph as it prepared to finish me. I roared right back at it, and held my ground. The moment before the monster sunk its fangs into my body, I darted to the side, and let the beast crash into the chains, which flexed, and groaned in response.
The beast yelped in pain, and I quickly made my move. I flexed my talons and made my first attack with my new weapons. I slashed once, twice at the monster’s side with my talons, and to my satisfaction, the claws pierced the heavy fur of its torso, and the Spiteclaw howled in pain, as the talons carved deep furrows into its side. Its blood, hot and red, splattered my face and arms as the blood spurted from the deep wound. Its eyes now seemed to burn with even more anger though, as it made to kick me away with its hind leg. While it missed, it did force me to move back away from it, and it quickly spun to face me. This time it didn’t charge though, and instead, seemed to study me with those piercing violet eyes. I returned its gaze, breathing heavily as we studied one another.
I had wounded it, but I knew that the wound had mainly served to enrage the beast. If the fight kept up like this, I wouldn’t survive. I needed to force it to submit somehow, and the only way I could see that being possible was by wounding it enough with my own claws. Those odds didn’t look good though. It had reach, and power over me, and if I closed to strike it, the chances that I would survive weren’t good. What could I do!?
Then the small part of my mind that was still able to think strategically in a rage, noticed the ropes were still tied to the beast’s legs. A plan began to form in my mind, and I charged the spiteclaw. It seemed surprised that I had initiated this exchange, but the beast ran forward to meet my charge. This time instead of diving under the spite claw, I dove to the side, a
nd reached out and caught one of the ropes.
As the monster landed, it made to spin around as it had earlier, but this time, I set my feet, and yanked the rope with all of my considerable strength. While I was nowhere near strong enough to pull the monster off its feet, I did have enough to pull its leg out from under it as it made to turn, and with a howl of frustration, the spiteclaw stumbled as it spun around.
Not wasting the opportunity, I dove forward, and jumped on the beasts back. I dug my claws into his back, to ensure I had a tight grip, and the spiteclaw roared in anger as it realized what I was doing. While his arms and legs couldn’t quite reach me, he still could shake me around. Which he proceeded to do just that.
It leapt around, and shook itself, as it attempted to shake me off. I roared my defiance, and pressed one talon deeper into its flank, as I attempted to get my other arm around its neck. Before I was able to get a good grip though, the spiteclaw pulled of a sharp twist, and the momentum, caused me to lose my grip, and my talons now covered in blood slid out of the beast’s torso as I found myself sailing through the air again. I landed with a hard thump onto the hard stone floor, and I saw stars in front of me, as my head bounced off the floor once.