Squatting, since it was obviously way too big to fit in if it had been standing, on top of the carnage and destruction it was causing was some sort of otherworldly demon. It had hairy goat legs, a prominent member with fangs, bat wings and a long whippy tail with a sting on the end. Its upper body was covered with scales and it had long arms tipped with 18 cm claws and its whole body rippled with muscles. Perched on top of all this was a relatively tiny horned head with a snout chock full of fangs dripping poison. It had a Impala rider in each hand, one under each foot and another in its jaws. The tail and member were whipping in and biting or stinging riders. It started flapping its wings to drive the dust away so it could see better. I had a bad feeling about who or what it was looking for.
I have to give those Impala riders the credit they richly deserve. As outmatched as they were none of them were holding back. They were harrying the critter like the wolves had harried the bison on the no longer existent mural on the outside wall. They had their knives, makeshift weapons and a few illegal ones to boot, not that they were going to live to face any legal penalties. They tried to keep their distance but the damn thing had two metre long arms and that tail didn't help. Even the server was there trying to smash the thing with a cookpot until the tail stung her and she convulsed once and fell down. The monster soon finished off all the ones it had in its grips. I turned to look at Petro and saw that he had turned white with shock.
I grabbed his arm and slapped his face to snap him out of it. "What the hell, pun intended, is that thing?" I yelled over the racket. He looked at me angrily and still half stunned and said, "Cacodaemon." I felt like smashing him in the face. "What the hell do ogres have to do with this mess!?!" "Never mind that now it's running out of Impala riders." I looked over and sure enough all but three of them were lying in the rubble twitching or not moving at all. The last three had to use every single bit of their ability to keep out of the thing's clutches. Of course there was no way out except past the damn thing.
It turned its head towards us and I swear a hideous sort of smile spread over its face. I pissed myself at that sight but I still managed to slap my thigh to release my shortsword. I knew it wouldn't be nearly enough though. The Harrier helps watchmen investigate and patrol but He doesn't offer much in the way of protection. I figure that it wouldn't have helped much anyway. Petro pulled out his blade as well. Sure it was a long knife but it wasn't near long enough. It seemed unlikely that the army would be saving us in time and I decided that I didn't really want the city patrol dying at this thing's hands too. I started composing my death curse to heave at the thing in futility as it dropped the corpses in its clutches and started crawling our way.
And then unbelievably the cavalry arrived.
To be continued.
Oliver
Powered by hypermail