Dominant Species
Issue #6
by Tom Zjaba
Chapter Eight
The Parting of Ways
The next morning, the group met. Most of the men were still a bit hung over from
the night before, but the Chief insisted they had a meeting. They left the town
and went to the burnt border the dragon created the day before. As they looked
at the blackened earth, they heard sounds. As they looked out at the forest,
they saw what looked like a pack of dogs. But they were not ordinary dogs. They
were all large, about four feet at the shoulders. The dogs were hounds or at
least resembled hounds with long floppy ears. They were pitch black in color and
their eyes glowed red. On their backs was a strip of hair that stood up. It was
short almost resembled a horse's mane. They were sniffing around at the tree
line until they saw the men. A few of them started to howl and they ran over
towards the men. There were four hounds in the pack. The men become worried as
the hounds looked mean. They pulled their weapons and waited for the attack.
They knew they could not outrun the dogs. But as the hounds neared them, they
came to a halt. Once they neared the scorched border, they stopped and sniffed
it. Once they knew the smell, they all backed up. They started to growl at the
men and bare their teeth. Chief looked at them and then looked at the border and
said "Damn, it really does work." He then went over to the edge of it and put
his hand over the border. Immediately, one of the dogs ran over and tried to
bite it. But as soon as he pulled it back over the edge, the dog stopped.
Howlingmad decided he would have fun with the dogs. He picked up some stones and
started throwing them at the dogs. The first few missed the dogs, but he finally
hit one in the head. The rock pelted the dog in the mouth and blood started to
flow from its mouth. Also, a few teeth fell out. The dog's eyes started to glow
bright red and it stared right at Howlingmad. It growled while it stared right
at him. Suddenly he felt something very hot on his face. It felt like his face
was burning. He reached over and felt his skin burning. It burned for a few
seconds and then it went away. As he rubbed his face, he felt something on it.
"What's on my face?" he yelled out to the others. They all looked at it and the
chief finally spoke up. "It looks like skull was burned on your face." He rubs
over it and feels it. It is a little tender, but for the most part, the pain is
gone. He then looks back at the dog and it stops growling and walks away. The
four dogs then headed into the woods and disappeared. Once they left, the chief
started talking. "Derrick is going to go into the dragon's den to see if his
friend is in there. I suggest we go with him and make camp at the base of the
mountain." Eightdigit looks puzzled "Why should we leave the village? We are
safe here." The chief looks at them and answers "If Derrick does find his friend
and frees him, the dragon may come out looking for vengeance. And since they are
the only humans in the area, I am guessing he will attack them." Eightdigit
looks worried "You are going on what ifs. I know that if I stay in the village,
I am safe. You saw how those big dogs stopped at the dragon's border."
Howlingmad jumped in "Yeah, we are finally safe. We can sleep soundly at night.
And there are women there." The chief looked down for a second at the scorched
earth. He admits to himself that he likes the thought of sleeping at night. And
having luxuries like electricity and tobacco was nice. And the women were allot
prettier than the ones back at the village. But without the worries of being
attacked, they could spend more time doing things like making pretty clothes and
doing their hair. The women back at the village wore whatever clothes they could
find. They bathed infrequently as going into the water was both cold and
dangerous. Their hair was long and unkempt. Their nails were cracked and had
dirt caked underneath them. They lived a hard life and it aged them beyond their
years. And unlike these women, they never shaved their legs or armpits. There
was no time for such trivial things. The chief then said "Well, Derrick and I
are leaving. Anyone who wants to come with us is welcome. Those who want to stay
behind can do so. You are all grown men and can choose your own paths. They all
looked at each other. Then Bearslayer steps over and stands next to the chief.
"I am going with you." Eightdigit then steps the other way and says "I am
staying. I had enough of the hard life." Spearfisher then went over and stood
next to Eightdigit. "I too am tired of living in fear." That only leaves
Howlingmad. He looks at the two groups and then looks down at the ground and
shakes his head. He then steps over and stands with the chief and Bearslayer.
"The girls are nice but I would get bored with the life." The chief then says
"Then we split paths now. I wish you the best of luck and hope I am wrong and we
meet again." With that, the chief's group steps over the scorched earth and head
towards the forest. The other two men then head back to the village.
As the day wears on, the group is making their way through the thick forest. The
scent of pine is strong as they are surrounded by large pine trees. In the trees
are numerous birds, squirrels and other animals. The sounds fill the forest and
help mask the crunching sound they are making by walking on dead leaves that
blanket the ground. As they move along, Howlingmad hears a growling sound. He
stops and readies his weapon. Bearslayer notices that he has stopped and goes
back to see what is going on. As he nears, Howlingmad signals for him to be
quiet. He then hears the growling sound again. It sounds just like the dog they
saw earlier. He whispers to Bearslayer "Did you hear that?" Bearslayer listens
intently but hears nothing. He then whispers back "I only hear the birds."
Howlingmad then answers back "No, the growling sound. I think that dog I hit is
following me." Bearslayer listens closer this time but he still does not hear
it. "There is nothing here. Let us move." They start moving again when
Howlingmad stops and points at the forest and says "Look, do you see its eyes?"
This time the chief comes over as well and looks. All they see is the darkness
of the forest. But Howlingmad insists he sees something. The chief finally
decides to move Howlingmad into the middle of the party. Maybe not having him in
the rear of the group will take some of the edge off him. As they move along, he
keeps looking back. After awhile, he quits looking and figures the dog has moved
on. But he feels spooked and wonders if he should have stayed back at the
village. At least there he was safe.
Back at the village, the two men return to the group. As they join the rest of
the village who are eating a breakfast of fish and eggs, they sit down and start
eating. As they get a cooked fish and some boiled eggs, they are approached by a
few of the men. "What happened to the rest of your party?" Before Eightdigit
speaks, he thinks about what may happen if he tells them the truth. They may be
upset if they find out they are headed to the dragon's den. So he just tells
them "We were on a mission and they decided to continue with the mission." The
men then asked "Why did you not go with them? Are they not your friends?"
Spearfisher was getting nervous. He did not like answering questions and was
scared they would say the wrong thing and end up dead. With only two of them,
they have little chance of surviving. Eightdigit then answers "We were tired of
living in fear, not sleeping at night. We finally found a safe place and wanted
to stay here." One of the men comes over and offers his hand. "Then welcome to
our village. We hope you will enjoy your stay here." They then all sat down and
enjoyed their meal. The men felt at home and really believed they made the right
choice.
As the night came, the group moved into the trees. One nice thing about the pine
trees was their fullness hid the men. Once they climbed up into the branches
they were all but invisible. And the strong fragrance covered up their scent. It
made it so they could sleep without fear of being discovered. That night they
all slept soundly. Even Howlingmad quit hearing sounds. Little did he know that
while he slept, the black dogs were back. They were walking along below the
tree, sniffing the ground. They moved past the tree as they had a hard time
following the scent in the forest. The scent they were following stopped. But as
they sniffed around the tree, they lost the scent. After a few minutes of
sniffing in vain, they move on.
As the sun rose, the men slowly climbed out of the tree. As they gathered at the
base of the tree, the chief began to talk. "Derrick, from here on, you are on
your own. None of us can survive an attack from the dragon. We will wait here
for you to return. Hopefully you find your friend." Derrick nods his head as he
says "I understand." With that, he head towards the mountain. Within minutes, he
is at the foot of the mountain and beginning his ascent. He is not sure how he
is going to get into the mountain or how he is going to get past the dragon.
This plan was not very well thought out. But then how does one go about planning
when a dragon is involved. Despite the lack of planning, Derrick works on
scaling the mountain. He has a long way to go and who knows what dangerous
creatures live on the mountain.
The noon time sun is beating down on the mountain. The glare of the sun is
annoying Derrick. He must squint to keep the sun out of his eyes. While the sun
is hot on the back of his neck, the face of the mountain is cool. While he
cannot be harmed, he can feel degrees of temperature. Snow feels cold to him.
Lava would feel hot. Neither one would harm him, but he can still tell the
difference. The one good thing about his invincibility is that while he feels
fatigue, he can keep going. There is no chance of spraining a muscle or other
injury. So while he is feeling tired from climbing this mountain, he can keep
climbing. He learned to block out fatigue when he was stuck in the hole. In the
hole, he was wet and cod. With practice, he learned to block it out. He also was
very hungry. There was nothing to eat in the hole. He knew that he did not need
to eat, but he still felt hunger. He figured it was more instinctive than
anything else. It was the desire to eat more than the need. So despite fatigue
setting in, he keeps scaling the mountain.
As nightfall blankets the land and the rays of the moon shine down on the
mountain, Derrick reaches the first ledge that can serve as a place to camp.
There is a large piece of land that is flat and goes into the mountain. There is
a large ledge that hangs over the area and works like a shelter. Derrick decides
this is a good place to rest for the night. While he does not need to sleep, his
body is feeling fatigued and he is having a hard time keeping his eyes open.
Getting some sleep would be good for him. Tomorrow, he will move up the mountain
and see if he can find a way into the heart of the mountain. He did not bring
anything to make a fire, so he must be cold for the night. He curls up in a ball
and hides in the back of the overhang. He is asleep within minutes. The fatigue
from the climb has worn him out and he sleeps soundly.
The next morning, Derrick is awaken by the sound of wings. The sound is of many
wings and they are not small wings but large wings. As he squints out into the
rising sun, he sees a sight that takes his breath away. There is at least a
dozen griffins flying around the mountain. They look to be together in a group.
Derrick is not sure if they would be a flock of griffins or a herd. Since the
large beasts have the head and wings of an eagle, it would make sense to say
they are a flock. But with the hindquarters of a lion, maybe a pride of griffins
is the correct term. Whatever it is, they look beautiful. With their large
wingspans, they are soaring around the mountain as they search for prey below.
As Derrick slowly moves towards the ledge to see what is going on, he makes sure
to move slowly. He does not want to let them know he is there or they may turn
their attention towards him. While he may be invincible, he has no desire to be
attacked by a herd or flock or gaggle of griffins. As he looks over the edge, he
sees what has attracted the griffins. There is a herd of wild horses running
across a field towards some woods. There must be at least fifty horses in the
herd and they are running hard. Running alongside the horses are a pair of
unicorns. These great beasts are a good foot taller than the horses and have
long flowing beards. Each one has a three foot horn that glistens in the sun.
Every few seconds, a griffin soars down and goes after one of the horse. But as
soon as it does, one of the two unicorns runs over and attacks with the long and
deadly horn. As soon as the unicorn's horn heads towards a griffin, it flies
back up and out of harm's way. But then another one soon replaces it. Griffins
love horse meat and will ignore all other prey if they have a chance to kill a
horse. But a unicorn is more than a match for a griffin. And since a griffin is
not big enough to carry away a horse, it uses the great talons on its front feet
to grab a hold of the horse while it uses its razor sharp beak to tear out the
horse's neck. But with these unicorns protecting the horses, the griffons are
just wasting their time. If the griffons knew enough to all attack at once, they
could probably get a few horses, but once they are on the ground, they open
themselves up to be attacked by the unicorn. And there are few animals that can
defeat a unicorn in battle. While they look like a horse in most respects, they
do not act like one. They are faster, more agile and very dangerous with their
horn. While never authenticated, rumors say their horn can pierce solid stone
and even steel. They speak of warriors with large shields that found how useless
they were once the unicorn pierced through the shield and impaled the warrior.
When the horses finally get to the woods, they all disappear into the thick
woods. Once all of them are out of view, the griffons all take off towards the
river. Derrick can only guess that the griffons expect the horses to head to the
river to drink and will wait for them there.
At the village, the people are all coming out to the barrier. In the distance,
they hear the sound of the thundering hooves and all the people are there to
watch the horses come to the river to drink. Spearfisher and Eightdigit are not
sure what is going on, so they just follow the rest of the people. Eightdigit
asks one of the women "What is going on?" She turns to him as she rushes along
and says "The horses are coming to drink." He picks up his pace to keep with her
and asks "All this to see horses? Are you going to capture them or something?"
She laughs at him and says "It is not the horses we want to see, but the
unicorns." He looks at her and asks "What's a unicorn?" She laughs again and
says "Come and you will see." She then grabs his hand and pulls him along. After
a few minutes, they are in the field near the border made by the dragon. He
stops to catch his breath as she heads up towards the edge of the border. All
along the border, the people stand. They are all jumping up and down, excited
like little kids. Then out of the woods comes the herd of horses. They are
running right towards the people. Up in the sky, Eightdigit sees the griffons
flying overhead. He then looks at the horses who appear to be headed right at
the people. It looks like the people will be ran over but no one is moving.
Instead they just stand there cheering. As the herd of horses gets within a few
feet of the border, they make a sharp turn and run along the border. The people
all reach out and try to touch the horses. The horse try to move out of reach of
the people's hands but a few get touched. Then the people see the two unicorns
run up to the border. As the unicorns come towards it, the people all step back.
Eightdigit asks "Is that the unicorn?" She whispers back "Yeah, but don't touch
them or they will stab you." He then asks "Aren't we safe inside the circle?"
She smiles at him and says "Not really, unicorns don't fear dragons." He soon
gets his proof as one of the unicorns runs over the circle and scatters the
crowd. It swipes its horn back and forth at the people, like it was a large
sword. It doesn't hit anyone, nor did it intend to. Unicorns like to let people
know they are in charge and will never pass up a chance to show their
superiority. When it has sufficiently scattered the crowd, the unicorn stands on
the scorched earth made by the dragon and urinates on it as a sign of defiance.
While a dragon could easily kill a unicorn, they fear nothing and go out of
their way to cause trouble. While it has been said that the magic in a unicorn's
horn can slay any animal, the chances of one being able to stab a dragon with it
is slim. But it is stories like this that make the value of a unicorn's horn so
high. While no one has actually owned a horn from a unicorn, stories spread
about some great warrior who created a spear from a unicorn's horn and was
invincible in battle.
Once the griffons are out of site, Derrick gathers up his belongings and starts
his ascent up the mountain again. He thinks that he can make it to the top by
nightfall. While the mountain is pretty steep, it is not very tall. He just
hopes that he does not fall. While he can survive the fall, it would mean
climbing all the way up the mountain once again. So he slowly checks his footing
to make sure it is sturdy before he moves up the mountain. It will be a slow but
steady pace.
At the foot of the mountain, the rest of the party are cooking their breakfast.
The chief sent the men to find any food they could cook for breakfast. While
they have some supplies, they try to save the dried meat for when they have no
choice. One man brings back some eggs and another brings a tortoise. The chief
looks at the items and says "We will eat the eggs now and save the turtle for
later." The eggs are large, about the size of a softball. There is three of them
and they are still in the nest. They are grey in color. The tortoise is fairly
large, about three feet wide by four feet long and weighs about eighty pounds.
There is blood running out of the top of the shell. The chief looks into the
shell and sees that the head has been pulled off. "Did you find it dead or did
you kill it?" Bearslayer puts down the heavy tortoise and says "I saw it eating
some bushes and shot an arrow into its neck. The arrow did not kill it but it
kept it from pulling its head into the shell. I was then easily able to cut off
the head." The chief then pulls out a cloth and shoves it into the hole. He
moves it around, trying to fill in the hole where its head was to stop any
further bleeding. He plans on making turtle soup and wants to use some of the
blood in the broth. Also the smell of fresh blood tends to attract animals and
the last thing he wants to do is deal with some scavengers.
Nightfall is here and the winds are blowing over the mountain. The weather is
brutally cold at the top of the mountain and Derrick is wishing he wore warmer
clothes. As he climbs the last few feet to the top of the mountain, he wishes
that when he asked the genie for invincibility that he would have also asked to
not feel any pain. While he knows that he cannot freeze to death, he still feels
the icy chill of the winds. He finds it odd that physical pain like being hit by
something or a falling down barely hurts at all. But temperatures really affect
him. Hit him with a club and it feels like a bump. Take a torch and burn his arm
and it hurts. There is no physical damage, the skin does not boil up or burn,
but the pain is very real. That is why he fears going into the dragon's den. He
knows the dragon cannot hurt him, but he will feel the pain of the fiery breath.
So he hopes to use the thief skills he wished for and move silently. At the top
of the mountain, he sees smoke coming out of a giant hole. It looks like a
volcano but he is unsure if it really is a volcano or if it is the smoke from
the dragon. He looks around to see if there is a way down and to his surprise,
he finds a set of stairs that go down in a circular fashion. The stairs are
etched out of stone and descend into the heart of the mountain. He gulps hard
and heads down the stairs.
As the men are sitting around the fire eating the tortoise soup, they marvel at
how tasty it is. Chief found a large bird shell that made a good kettle. He did
not think it would work at first, but he found it resistant to heat and it was
quite large. So he put the tortoise meat and blood in there along with water,
different roots and vegetables they dug up and some spice leaves they found.
They used some branches to hold it in place and filled it and let the food cook.
The large shell was yellow in color with large red spots on it. He was unsure of
what kind of animal made the shell, but from the looks of it, it was a large
animal. Howlingmad guessed it was a dragon because the egg was not harmed by
heat. It conducted heat well but it did not burn while over the open flame. As
they sat around and ate the soup, they heard sounds in the woods. As to be
expected, a fire and cooking meat was a magnet to wildlife. They just hoped they
could eat in peace before they went back up in the trees for the night. But the
sound of movement in the woods alerted them. Like a well trained army, they all
dropped their makeshift bowls and pulled out their weapons. Bearslayer had the
bow ready and was scanning the woods. Before they could see anything, they heard
a bloodcurdling howl. It was the howl of a dog and it chilled them to the bone.
They turned to the right where they thought the sound originated and looked.
Howlingmad reached over and pulls a burning stick from the fire. He then waves
it back and forth as he looks in the woods to see what is out there. As he is
doing this, another howl comes from behind them. This one sounds closer and is
just as menacing. He quickly turns around and sees glowing eyes. There are four
sets of blood red eyes that glow like burning coals. As he moves closer to see
what it is, out of the darkness steps the black dogs. And they are all looking
at Howlingmad.
Dominant Species © 2006-2009
Tom Zjaba