by Sami Dougish
I did my best to shake my head to clear my vision, but it only made it worse. Just then the pain in my head was forgotten, as the spiteclaw now charged at me, and didn’t give me a chance to recover. I wasn’t able to get out of the way in time this time, and it landed a solid swipe that cut from me from shoulder to my midriff. The blow knocked me back, and I landed painful, on my knees. I yelled in pain, as the blood started to gush. Thankfully it wasn’t too deep, but it was deep enough to kill me if the blood flow wasn’t stopped. I needed to end this now.
With a surge of adrenaline and rage born from a desire to cause the beast equal pain, I dove under the leap of the spiteclaw again, and I knew what would be coming. Just as last time, the heavy tail swung around to meet me, but instead of dodging this time, I caught the tail between my claws, and held on letting the tail carry me off my feet while still holding on. The spiteclaw screeched in pain as I quickly clawed my way up the length of his tail, dragging my torso over the sharp barbs, carving numerous small gashes along my already bloody chest.
Once again, I managed to claw my way up onto the animals back, and move towards its vulnerable neck. Just as last time, the Spite claw began to buck, and spin trying to throw me off. This time instead of just using my one hand to anchor myself on this time, I sunk my teeth into the spiteclaw’s meaty shoulder. Now anchored by one claw, and my teeth. I was able to hook my left arm around the spiteclaw’s neck. I may not be able to beat it face to face, but I knew the bastard needed air, and I intended to not let him have any.
I quickly bite down as hard as I could, and ripped my claws out of the spiteclaws back. As it howled, I quickly linked my two clawed hands together, and with all my remaining strength I heaved back, doing my best to cut off the spiteclaw’s air supply.
Immediately the spiteclaws howl turned into a strained gasping roar, as it suddenly found itself without any air. In a panic, it began to spin wildly, desperately trying to throw me off. As my blood continued to flow out onto the beasts back and head, I felt my vision begin to blur. I was losing too much blood. Still I grit my teeth, and with the determination that had been hardened to steel years ago, I kept my iron grip around the spiteclaw’s throat.
I roared my defiance into its ear as it bucking became weaker, and weaker. I sensed victory, I just needed to hang on for just a bit longer! Then abruptly to my surprise the spiteclaw ceased its attempts to throw me off, and instead, collapsed to its stomach, and let out a two gasping growls. My lizard mind knew instinctively what it meant. The spiteclaw had submitted.
I gasped in relief, and even though I was having trouble thinking coherently what with my animal instincts controlling me mixed with my blood loss, I still was able to consciously let go of the spiteclaw’s neck, and fall to the ground in my own bloody victory.
It turned out I did survive the ordeal. The moment the spiteclaw had collapsed, and I let go, Marin followed closely by Orizmad and Oktai had ran into the enclosure. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but still driven by the blood lust influencing me, I instinctively lashed out at them with my claws, almost like a wounded animal. I had lost too much blood though for it to be any real danger to them, and Oktai batted the hand away, while Marin stood over me with her hands beginning to glow. As I began to fade to into unconsciousness, I locked eyes with the spiteclaw that was also bleeding heavily from the wounds I had inflicted. Its violet eyes met my own brown ones, and I saw it weekly dip its head at me, almost as in acknowledgement. I chuckled weakly in disbelief and satisfaction as I fell back to the encroaching darkness of unconsciousness.
Chapter 15
When I next woke up, I was still inside the chained enclosure of where I had fought the spiteclaw. I looked around, and my gaze fell on Marin, Orizmad, and Oktai all staring down at me with worried expressions on their faces. When I opened my eyes though, they all threw their hands up, and exclaimed, “He’s alive!”
They seemed to be the only ones happy though, as I saw Primus, Adarossa, Micah, all staring at me from further away with disappointed looks on their faces. I smirked in satisfaction at that. I tried to stand up, and found myself extremely dizzy as I did so.
“Hold on there you idiotic lump of scales!” Marin exclaimed as she moved forward to try and stop me from getting up. “I healed your wounds, but my magic isn’t strong enough to fully restore the blood you lost! You are lucky you are so big, or else with the amount of blood you lost, you’d probably have been dead!”
Ignoring the mages fussing, I staggered to my feet, only to be nearly knocked down again, as Orizmad slapped me on the back hard enough to make my already unstable self, fall back down to one knee. I whipped my head around and hissed at him, but he seemed oblivious to my anger and instead began excitedly saying, “By the gods above, you are either the most insane man person I’ve ever met, or just plain stupid, but that will be something I remember for the rest of my days! I just watched a drayzraac, grow a set of claws, fight a spiteclaw in a bid for dominance and win! I never would have believed it if I didn’t see it with my own eyes!”
“Oh believe it boss! Zatara here is definitely one mad son of a bitch, but fuck me sideways if that wasn’t the most impressive thing I have ever seen!” Oktai added as he bounced excitedly around me.
I growled at them, as I tried to stand back up. I then realized that my hands had reverted back to their regular unscaled appearance. Fifteen minutes must have passed since I first formed them.
“Hmph, well you could have done better, but seeing as you are small and nowhere near the size of a hatchling, I will say you did a passable job vessel.”
“Oh thank you, I really needed to hear that from you!” I shot back to the dragon in a mental tone dripping with sarcasm.
I looked down at my chest where the spiteclaws talons had ripped a long gash into my chest, just before its barbed tail had stuck me full of holes. Once again, the power of magical healing took me off guard. All of the small punctures and ragged lines caused by the tail were completely gone, replaced by fresh and healthy skin. The wound left by the spiteclaws talons though remained in the form of a heavy scar. Four half inch thick lines dragged an arc from my left shoulder, all the way done to just above my navel. It didn’t hurt nearly as badly as it had when I first had been wounded, but it was still sore from what I could tell.
Marin bustled closer to me, and began to poke and prod at the areas she had healed, I quickly batted her away, and hissed. She was lost in one of her excited bouts of medical interest though, and ignored the shove, instead saying, “Oh yes, they healed up quite nicely. Unfortunately, those claw wounds seem to be resistant to magic healing, that paired with your own natural resistance made it so I could close the wound, and stop the bleeding, but that was it. I do not have the required skill to remove the scar, but perhaps in later years you will find someone who can.”
I shook my head; I had no intention of doing that. I would wear this scar proudly unlike most of my others. I had earned this one fighting a worthy predator, and such wounds should be kept and remembered.
On that note, I looked around quickly, and my eyes fell on the spiteclaw. It was still slumped down on its stomach, and was licking its wounded arm. Orizmad followed my gaze, and shook his head in amazement.
After you lost consciousness, the beast stayed where it was, and as long as none of us got too close to it, it didn’t attempt to attack any of us. Marin tried to go near it, and almost lost her arm because of it. We had to use the ropes again to keep it steady long enough for Marin to get close enough to heal its wounds. Apparently, the part about them being resistant to magic is true as well, as she wasn’t able to fully heal it either. We decided to just heal the gouges you left in its back, as they were, they were still bleeding heavily, but decided it would be safer for us all to just let it deal with the rest on its own.
I stopped listening, and instead stumbled towards the magnificent creature. Its violet eyes locked with my own as I approached, and it let out a low growl. Orizmad made to pul
l me back, but I pulled away. I knew it wasn’t a growl of warning, more like one of greeting, and sure enough as I approached it, it made no move to attack me. Once I was within arm’s reach of it, I reached out, and slowly laid one hand on the spiteclaws snout. Its snout was warm to the touch, and it made no move to stop me. I growled at him in the same manner he had at me, and I wearily sat down next to it, and leaned myself against its flank.
To everyone’s surprise but my own, the spiteclaw, continued to lick its paw as I rested my head against its flank. It was strange, while I didn’t feel safe leaving myself vulnerable around any of these people, I already trusted the spiteclaw to keep me relatively safe. We had faced off, and it had yielded. It wouldn’t challenge me again. Animals generally were far more trustworthy than people in my experience.
The spiteclaw glanced around at me, and I could have sworn it raised one of its eyebrows at me as though to ask, “What are you doing?”
“Resting,” I said out loud in reply, “You weren’t exactly a gentle opponent you know.”
The spiteclaw snorted a puff of air in my face, which ruffled my short hair, and returned to cleaning its wounds. I chuckled softly to myself, and leaned my head back against the spiteclaws flank, and despite having slept not too long ago, the fight, and the healing afterwards had taken a lot out of me, and I was exhausted. As I felt myself drifting off again, I took note of how the heat coming off the spiteclaws body felt comforting against my scales.
___________________________________________
When I next woke up, I found that I was still leaning against the spiteclaws flank. The spiteclaw had seemed to have finished his self-treatment, and had curled up next to me, and from what I could tell was fast asleep. I looked around to get my bearings, and saw that my gear had been set up in a neat pile about ten yards away from us.
I saw and heard a number of stable workers working around us, but they all seemed to be giving us a wide berth. I guess sleeping with a giant predator had its perks. I yawned, and got to my feet and stretched. Once done, I moved over to my gear, and began strapping my leather armor back on, placed my daggers in various spots of my armor. I decided to leave the larger pieces for now, as seeing as I was going to try and ride the spiteclaw next, they would just get in the way of my learning.
Throughout all of this the spiteclaw had stayed sleeping, so I turned around, and made my way to the exit of the cage.
“Open the door!” I barked loudly to get the attention of any of the workers nearby. I heard a few whispers of surprise, but several seconds later a lone worker came up, and locked the latch keeping the door secure. I brushed past him, and moved off towards the center of the stable area. As I made my way over, I noticed that while I still received looks of disgust and fear, there were hints of what might have been awe as I walked by. I snorted, it probably wasn’t every day that they got to see someone wrestle a spiteclaw, much less win.
Raskorian yawned in my head, and shook himself as he said, “You see vessel these cretins are beginning to learn their place!”
I snorted to myself as I asked, I assume you have no idea how I’m going to ride the spiteclaw? I was planning on just using my mount as a pack animal, but there is no way, I can use that beautiful creature as purely a pack animal.”
“No, I have no clue, I ate spiteclaw’s, I never rode one.”
“Well its going to be a painful experience then I’m sure.”
Once I reached the center of the stables, I yelled loud enough for the entire compound to hear, “Torn! Get out here, I need a saddle or something like that!”
Everyone immediately looked over to me, and then they all looked at the main building, from where a few seconds later, a disgruntled torn walked out.
“I am not a dog for you to call at whim Drayzraac!”
“Yet here you are heeling when called.” I said with a scornful smirk.
“I must say vessel, you are learning to display disdain most admirably, I am glad to see my efforts are paying off.”
“Torn’s face turned a bright red at my words, and I saw his hands bawl into fists as he stared back at me, but he didn’t offer any barb in reply.
“As I said, I need a saddle, or something of the like to go along with the spiteclaw. Got anything like that?”
Torn looked like he’d rather stick a blade in my belly, and when he spoke, it sounded like he was spitting his words instead of speaking them.
“Yes, we made one sometime back, incase we ever tamed the beast, but we never were able to get it to stay still enough to try it on. Derrick, get him the saddle, and let him figure it out, that should be within the capabilities of his animal mind!”
He spun around on his heel, and made for the door, while one of the nearby stable workers made to his way over to me. Tired of Torn’s attitude, I reached down to my belt, and before anyone could react, I drew my hand back, and hurled the blade towards the wood door that Torn was making his way too. It missed his outstretched hands by inches, as I had intended, and stuck lodged itself into the wood with a satisfying thunk.
Torn pulled his hand back with a yelp, and stumbled back from the door. I laughed loudly, and didn’t even bother saying anything, and instead, turned to Derrick, who was staring at me with wide eyed disbelief. I growled in his face, and he jumped back as I said, “Saddle!”
He jumped back, and quickly dashed off in the direction of a small building that had been built off to the side. I followed him, and when I walked through the door, he had left open, I saw the man, pushing a cart out with what looked to been a very well-made leather saddle. It was far larger than a horse’s saddle, and looked to be quite heavy.
Without saying anything, I moved over, and grabbed the handles of the cart from the man’s hands who scrambled back away from me as quickly as he could. I pushed the cart out of the storage shed, and made my way back over to the chained enclosure. Once back inside the enclosure, it was just me, and the spiteclaw again. I pushed the cart towards him, and he quickly woke up at the sound of the approaching wheels, and turned to look at me.
He made the same growl of greeting, which I returned. I stopped the cart near the spiteclaw, and cocked my head to the side as I studied the creature. He was without a doubt a striking creature, and I was excited to see what he would look like when he was fully grown.
“What should I name you then boy?”
The spiteclaw didn’t respond, and just shook itself in response. I thought about it briefly, he deserved a string name that gave credit to his strength. After thinking a bit more I asked Raskorian, “What was that word you told me meant something like affects something bad, or is extremely deadly? Started with an S I think.
“Scourge?”
“Yeah, that’s the one,”
I turned back to the spiteclaw. He had been a fearsome opponent indeed, and I knew as I was, if he had been fully grown, I wouldn’t have stood a chance. And judging from what everyone said about spiteclaws, they were deadly predators.
“I’m going to call you Scourge.”
Scourge looked back at me, and I could have sworn he nodded his head slightly as if he knew what the word meant. I moved forward, and stroked the fur on Scourge’s back, who in response seemed to push himself further into my fingers.
“Hmm, that is an apt name, good choice vessel.”
I made my way back to the cart, and heaved the cumbersome saddle of the cart, and made my way towards Scourge. Who was eyeing the saddle warily as I approached.
“Easy there boy, just going to try and get this thing on you,”
He seemed to calm down at my words, and with a heave, I lifted the saddle, and swung it over his back. Thankfully he didn’t react negatively, and just stayed still as I went about trying to figure out the straps. The leather of the seat below the saddle was long and flexible, and covered most of his back, and fell down to the side. It seemed like it had been made to fit him even after he grew some.
I went about, trying to secure the straps around his
belly, and his flanks. It took me a few attempts, but eventually I figured out where all the latches, and straps attached. I saw that there was an area where I could even strap my legs in. I had a feeling they would come on handy later in the future as I recalled how scourge had leapt and darted around with sharp movements if I had my hands busy while he pulled one of those maneuvers, I could see myself being thrown from his back.
I stepped back to look at my handiwork, and was glad to see that the saddle fit well. This was going a lot smoother than I had expected. Of course, that all changed the moment I tried to mount him. I stepped forward, and placed my foot on one of the stirrups, and made to pull myself up his back, but the moment I applied pressure, scourge immediately stood up, and pushed away. Me still being in mid mount, lost my balance, and fell flat on my back. I landed with a dull thump, and I growled with a mixture of irritation and pain.
I picked myself up, and glared over at scourge, and rolled my eyes, seems I shouldn’t have tempted fate. I made my way over to him again, and tried to get on his back again, and was met with similar results again, and again, and again.
“Vessel you are embarrassing us.” Raskorian chided unhelpfully as I picked myself up off the ground for the fifth time.
“Yes, and you aren’t helping!” I retorted angrily. As I made my way back over to Scourge. Despite having thrown me multiple times, he hadn’t shown any signs of aggression, in fact if I didn’t know better, I would say he was enjoying himself.
I sat down, and thought about what to do. He obviously, didn’t feel like letting me on his back, and honestly, I couldn’t blame him, he had been captured, and taken from his home, and even though I had bested him in a fight it was obvious, he wasn’t going to let me order him around freely.
As I had that thought, I mentally kicked myself. He was a predator, and an apex killer. There was no way to fully dominate such a spirit. Similar to me, I had been enslaved for years as a slave, but I never lost my resolve, or fully submitted. I realized I had approaching this wrong the entire time.