Krazzek

“Let's go hide in the forest,” Krazzek gestured towards the trees. “The two of us should be good enough to sneak around the scouts and get out.”

“And what about everyone else?” Dyryl insisted, pulling back.

At the far end of the villa there was no one to see them aside from a few servants already taking Krazzek's advice and heading for the trees. He was pretty sure they could sneak away from the battle entirely, which was exactly his idea of how to spend a battle.

“Shylldra can call on Maia's protection and Hallek's a Fang! They can manage just fine! Maybe we can meet up with them later.”

“And what about all the other soldiers and tribesmen?” Dyrly countered. “Are we supposed to abandon them to?”

“Dyryl,” Krazzek said desperately, “This is a pitched battle over open ground. People like us have no place here.”

“I'm not sure that's a compliment,” Dyryl said dryly. “The people like us part. Not sure I like the comparison.”

“I just meant sneaky people!” Krazzek said. “Lurkers, hunters, ambush fighters! This isn't our kind of fight!”

“And what's your kind of fight?” Dyryl snapped. “Do you even have a kind of fight?”

“Yes,” Krazzek nodded. “One I'm very far away from. I'm a thief. I don't fight, or kill people. I sneak in places and I take things. For the past few years I've been doing it for Jajess on salary, but it was still the same job.”

Dyryl's face turned red and she gripped the hilts of her daggers. For a moment he thought she was going to gut him. But when she spoke there wasn't the slightest hint of anger or blame in her voice.

That was the worst part.

“You're right,” she said. “I keep forgetting you're not a fighter, because we've got so many of the same skills. But when it comes to battle you're an amateur. On a battlefield like this you'd probably get yourself killed. Head to the woods. Work around any scouts they've got lurking in there, and meet us at the Screaming Rock in three days.” She turned to go. “I mean it, Krazzek. Be there. Alright?”

Without waiting for an answer she headed back towards the sounds of battle.

“But I don't you getting hurt....either....she's already gone. Ah hells.”

Hallek

“Hallek don't leave me here!”

Shylldra's shout brought him back to reality. He'd lost himself to the dinosaur again, but that had also been why her scream brought him back. When it came to giganotosaur instincts, protect the mate came way ahead of answer the challenge.

They were standing on a battlefield, surrounded by clashing blades and screaming, dying men. Smoke was rising from the skin of the scarred men as they burned the magic of their tattoos to try and counter the effects if Mikaamek's roar. Jajess's guards had no magical counter, but they were fighting the kind of battle they were trained for. The Birdfang were forest hunters, they preferred stealth and archery among the trees, but the villa was surrounded by open fields so it become a battle of blades and close quarters that turned the fields into a bloody butcher's yard.

The three bloodiest patches were the ones around Maukra, Norak, and Krozz on the back of his monster. Hallek couldn't tell whether Krozz or his mount was doing more damage. Krozz's huge curved sword was the perfect length and shape to slash through everyone around him as he rode on the beast's back, while the creature itself was a nightmare of fangs and claws. The two Birdfang heroes were trying to cut through the mass of soldiers to counter the general, at least hold him down so he wasn't chewing through men anymore.

“Alright,” Hallek said. “Let’s get you...where did Verris go?”

“I don't know,” Shylldra said, looking around. “He was right here a moment ago. Before you went crazy.”

“Crap. Whatever, to the hells with him. Lets get you somewhere safe.”

“No,” Shylldra said. “I can help, I can call on Maia...”

“You're one of their main targets,” Hallek insisted. “I don't know if they're planning to kill you or kidnap you, but I know they're coming for you. If we can get you somewhere out of the way, maybe we can...”

A squad of the emperor's men broke through the line of tribesmen and guardsmen, and suddenly Hallek was surrounded. Orange light gleamed in his eyes as he cut them to shreds. It was almost casual. Like taking off a wet cloak.

“Then maybe I can help,” Hallek said. “But I can't if I've got to protect you!”

“Alright. We'll find someplace.”

They made for the villa but the battle flowed over them. Hallek felt like he was trapped in a tight room, with walls made of armor and blades. Out of the corner of his eye he caught a sword stroke that would have cut Shylldra's neck in half. He blocked it, but that left him open to another swing that left a bloody line across his ribs.

“Hallek!” Shylldra gasped.

“I'm fine,” Hallek snarled, blood trickling down his ribs. “But I can't do this with you here. I need a way out. Put your arms around my neck again.”

Shylldra nodded, grabbing Hallek and tucking her staff under one arm. Hallek called on all the strength he could muster from the giganotosaur's power and leaped.

It didn't occur to him until they landed that what he'd just done was announce their location to the entire battle. And it wasn't until Krozz's beast went airborne he realized he wasn't the only thing on the battlefield that could jump like that. The scaly monstrosity landed with a thud and Hallek found himself face to face with a maw full of jagged teeth, Krozz grinning down at him from atop the creature's back.

Verris

Verris was planning to kill the emperor. It seemed like the obvious solution.

Verris was nobody's coward. He was an opportunist. With the emperor dead Verris assumed the soldiers would scatter. And even if he was wrong about that, there'd be enough confusion to leave in. He could hunt down his father, murder the fat faced bastard slowly, and pick up the pieces of the coup attempt for himself. Who knew? If what they said was true killing the emperor might even let him claim the ax, and wouldn't that be buckets of fun? So he slinked around the battle and came up the hill to where the Emperor was sitting. In a chair of cloth and wood, under an umbrella, drinking wine and watching the battlefield.

Looking the other direction. Perfect. Krazzek gripped his whip, drew his sword, and lunged for the emperor's neck. The emperor leaned forward and the point of the sword stabbed through empty air, the force of the thrust carrying Verris up and over the Emperor's back so he landed on his stomach in the dirt.

Well that's not a good start.

“Ah,” Lekarik said. “You're Jajess's son, right? I wondered where you'd gone.”

Verris looked up to see the emperor's face for the first time. He took in the fangs, and the slit pupil eyes with the row of horns over them. But the dinosaur mutations weren't what really caught Verris's attention, it was the smile. The all too human smile on Lekarik's face. The smile of a man who was sitting comfortably sipping wine after he'd literally just put one of his enemies in the dirt. Verris felt a powerful urge to put a fist through it.

Lekarik's foot caught him in the face and sent him flying. He landed on his back about four feet away, the slant of the hill giving him a good view of the horizon and the bloody battle below. He was still finding his bearings when the emperor's foot landed on his chest, stomping the air out of him. He looked up to see the emperor brandishing his ax. The ax.

“I've always felt beheadings were a good kind of execution,” Lekarik said. “For an emperor to command, I mean. Quick, clean, efficient. More...official somehow. I mean cutting someone all over so they bleed and throwing them to a pit of hungry raptors does have that personal touch, but it can also feel so petty you know? Better to get it over with. You should feel honored, by the way. You'll be the first person I've ever killed with Milkaamek's ax.”

Hate burned the pain and confusion from Verris's body and he wrapped his arms around Lekarik's ankle, jerking to the side. The emperor twisted away from the attack, spinning into a fighting crouch as Verris leaped to his feet.

“Oh!” Lekarik said. “You might make this fun after all!”

He's got dinosaur in his blood now, Verris thought. And he's got a fang weapon. Just like Hallek. So he's at least as strong as Hallek, maybe stronger. But I can go toe to toe with Hallek and his damn fang sword. I can do this. Hate makes us strong.

It was also possible he hated Lekarik in that moment more than he hated Hallek, but Verris wasn't sure about that. It was the difference between a few minutes of high grade humiliation and fury versus a whole lifetime of detesting each other down to the bone.

Verris pulled the whip from his belt and swept it around in Lekarik's direction at about waist level. Even if Lekarik blocked the blow, it would put him off balance, so Verris could...

Lekarik was gone.

The emperor ducked nimbly under the strike and faster than Verris could believe they were inches apart from each other. And then the ax came up, an underhanded swing that cut verris's belly and chest. He felt his arms go week.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

“Disappointing,” Lekarik snarled. He kicked Verris in the chest and sent him flying through the air. Verris bled and rolled down the hill, into the trees at the palm forest's edge, fading in and out of consciousness.

And then the white skinned man was there, and Verris wasn't sure if he'd faded in or out.

He wasn't “white” like a northerner, or in any way that could normally used to describe human skin. He was the white of a freshly cleaned sheet, the white of paint on the walls. He was a white so painfully unnatural it hurt the eyes. He was completely hairless and naked from the waist up, while below he wore a simple pair of baggy brown pants. He stared down at Verris with undisguised contempt.

“Pathetic,” the man snarled, and Verris saw his teeth were as black as he was white, a row of jagged onyx gems that looked too big for his mouth.

“Kill....you...” Verris choked.

“Shut up!” the man snapped, kicking him in the side. “I cannot believe you were the best I could do. And now I'm stuck with you. If I thought I could replace you in time I'd leave you to die, but I haven't got the resources here.”

Verris choked and clutched his side where he'd been kicked.

“Don't be a baby,” the man sneered. “The cut's not that deep, a little healing and you'll be fine. Lekarik's not used to the ax yet. If he'd hit you straight on he'd have blown you apart.”

“Who...” Verris finally though to ask. “Who...are you?”

“Don't you recognize me?” the man said. “No of course you don't. I'm not surprised. I ought to leave you here to die. I think letting that wound fester until the maggots eat your guts is about what you've earned. But dammit I still need you.”

And then he grabbed Verris by the hair and dragged him off into the forest like a sack of rotten vegetables.

Hallek

The beast Krozz was riding looked like a cross between the giganotosaurus and a crocodile. The head was almost exactly like one of the great hunters but it walked on all fours, and there was something in the way it moved that said “lizard” instead of “dinosaur.” Its breath was hot and flecked with sticky spittle as it roared, showing off a cavern of a mouth filled with jagged teeth.

Hallek punched it in the jaw. It yelped in surprise and Hallek jumped backwards to dodge the claw it swung in response. Its feet were almost handlike, no thumb but many padded fingers each with a hooked claw at the end. It started to follow him, but its rider tugged it back with leather reigns fastened just behind the jaws.

“So,” Krozz laughed from his perch on the beast's back as his mount settled. “You are the Fang warrior. No one else would dare to strike my beast with a bare fist. And if they did, they would never survive.”

“I should have cut it,” Hallek said, stepping between Krozz and Shylldra.

“That might not have worked out as well for you as you expect,” Krozz grinned. “I won't insult you by demanding the girl. The beast you're carrying would rather fight me. And I would rather fight you man to man myself, than let my own beast fight you.”

Hallek could see his point. The “beast,” whatever it was, was low to the ground for such a massive creature but very long, and Krozz's weapon was designed to slash at enemies to either side while the jaws and claws took care of things in front. If they fought now, it would most be a battle between Hallek and Krozz's mount.

Krozz jerked the reigns again until the creature settled back on its haunches. The general leaped out of his saddle and drew his wicked curved sword again.

“I won't ever get the chance to fight my emperor,” he said “This may be the only chance I ever have to see how I fare against a true Fang warrior.”

The challenge called to Hallek's own beast, and he felt the urge to growl as he took a firmer grip on his own weapon.

“Shylldra,” Hallek said. “Find somewhere to hide. Now.”

Shylldra didn't argue, just hurried towards the villa. Hallek shot forwards, bringing his sword down in an overhand strike, but it met the curved edge of Krozz's sword.

“An Allosaurus is not a Fang,” he said while their blades were locked. “But it's a proud beast all the same. This sword has never failed me, and it will prove the man who wields the weapon matters more than the bone that makes the blade.”

He punched Hallek in the gut, sending him stumbling back. While Hallek was still finding his breath Krozz followed up with an overhand strike of his own, but Hallek jumped to the side just in time to avoid it and kicked for Krozz's ankles, but the general stepped back before he could be hooked and tripped.

The beast lunged at Hallek in a whirlwind of teeth and claws.

He was able to knock the claws away in time to avoid real damage but the creature managed to put a fresh line of bleeding claw marks down Hallek's side. The force of the lunge toppled him over and knocked the sword from his hand. As he reached for it, he saw Krozz running towards the villa and Shylldra's hiding place.

All that talk about honor and duels just to get my guard down, Hallek thought. Bastard.

Hallek scrabbled for his sword. He heard Shylldra scream, Krozz must have found her. It took too long to get the sword in hand. His head was pounding, and he was losing blood. Ready to finish Hallek off, the beast crouched back on its haunches and leaped.

So did Dyryl.

He didn't see her until she caught the creature in midair, changing the trajectory of its leap and digging into its flesh with her daggers. There was no time to shout a thanks or a greeting. He'd thank her later. Shylldra was in danger.

He ignored the pain and the blood pumping from his wounds and ran to the villa, where Krozz was tugging Shylldra out into the open.

“Let her go!” Hallek bellowed, his voice backed by the power of the Fang. Krozz turned to him and grinned, raising the point of his blade to Shylldra's throat.

“Stop running or she dies,” Krozz said. “How about....”

His voice cut off in a strangled noise not unlike a small animal full of balloons being stepped on by a triceretops. If you have ever heard it you know exactly the noise I mean, and the deep throated wheeze that always follows. It is the noise the male of any species makes when some foreign object—like, for example, the hard wooden tip of an Acolyte of Maia's staff swung under Shylldra's armpit—makes sudden, direct, and forceful contact with his genitals.

Shylldra, the battle, and nearly all else forgotten Krozz dropped his weapon and stumbled away from Shylldra who promptly darted away towards the safety of the rocks. Hallek slammed a flying knee into Krozz's chest, throwing him against the wall. Regaining his senses Krozz grabbed for Shylldra, but Hallek stood in his way, ready to...

Nothing. A feint. Krozz hadn't been making for Shylldra, he'd been making for his sword. Once rearmed he turned back, squaring off with Hallek as they both brandished their blades. Behind him he could hear Dyryl, still struggling with the beast.

Norak

Norak and Maukra were avatars of death.

The battle was a slow, brutal meat grinder. Norak and Maukra were its sharpest blades. Maukra fought with the long, thin swords she'd never gotten a chance to use when Heshk attacked her home. Norak fought with the huge blade he'd carried since he became a warrior. She was lightning and he was thunder, hewing the emperor's men right and left and trying to organize the defenders.

“Norak,” Maukra said. “I can hold this together. Go help Dyryl, she's in danger.”

“A shaman's sense?”

“A mother’s.”

Norak didn't argue. Between her skills with a blade and her prayers to the forest spirits she would probably be alright, without a Fang to keep in check. And Dyryl was his sister. No Maukra wasn't his mother, but his own had died giving birth to his younger brother and he and Dyryl had always been the closest of either's siblings. And it wasn't like it would be hard to find Dyryl. She'd be forming up with Hallek if she hadn't caught up with him. So he followed the chaos and the roaring.

He made his way through the confusion of the battle and found Hallek, Shylldra, and Dyryl. Dyryl was not doing very well. Not her fault, it wasn't her kind of battle. It was Hallek's kind of battle, but Hallek was dueling the general. Krozz, someone said his name was. And having a hard time of it, too. Dyryl was doing her best, but her daggers were too small to even really pierce the beasts hide and it was too experienced a warbeast to let her near its tendons.

Not her kind of fight. But that was okay. It was Norak's.

He charged in and shoulder checked the creature to the side. It stumbled backwards, roaring and hissing.

“Where have you been?” She demanded.

“Busy,” Norak said. “Now watch me kill this thing.”

The tattoos on his skin hissed and steamed as he called on the power of the blood within. The beast had gotten its balance back and they clashed. Blood spattered everywhere. It flew across the grass and splashed Dyryl's face as the creature tore into Norak's chest and arms. And it seeped from the deep wound in the neck Norak gave the creature with his own swing.

Bleeding from the throat the beast tried to scrabble away, but Norak kicked it over and in its moment of flailing panic on the ground gutted it from neck to groin. Intestines spilled out on the ground as Norak stepped back to examine his handiwork.

Stumbled back, more like it. He felt dizzy.

“Norak!” Dyryl said.

“Save itsblood,” Norak said. “I want a tattoo.”

“Norak...”

“I didn't get the Fang, but whatever this thing is makes a decent substitute...”

“NORAK! Sweet gods look at yourself.”

He did. Some of those wounds seemed...deep. Very deep. His arms looked a little but like badly butchered meat and his chest....was he wearing a red shirt? No, he always went bare chested...

Oh. That was blood. His own blood. That was an awful lot of his own blood.

He said something to Dyryl. Or he thought he did. Black spots invaded his vision and his knees went weak then, and then everything was blackness.

Hallek

He'd lost count of how many times Shylldra had saved his life.

If he wasn't wounded Hallek would have had the edge in speed and power. Maybe a decisive edge, maybe not. Krozz was good. Even blows Hallek blocked seemed to catch flesh, the curved blade snaking around Hallek's own straight sword to always land a scratch, a scrape, anything. And as the fight wore on it told as Hallek grew weaker and weaker, bleeding cuts appearing all over his arms and chest. He'd landed a few on Krozz as well, but Krozz hadn't started the battle wounded. Hallek had.

Hallek was pretty sure Shylldra's prayers and Maia's grace were the only thing keeping him alive. He was, for the second time since binding to the Fang, evenly matched. He wondered idly where Verris had gotten to.

There was only so much time Hallek's strength and skill, even combined with Maia's power, could hold out. Finally it wasn't enough and Krozz's sword buried itself in Hallek's shoulder. The force of the blow sent him tumbling to his knees. He tried to wheeze out an insult, a defiant curse, something, but he was too spent. He gripped his own weapon, feeling his soul flowing between it and his flesh. Maybe, when Krozz came in for the final blow, Hallek could at least take the general down with him.

Then Shylldra tried to hit Krozz over the head with her staff. He caught it before he ever reached him.

“Stop.” He snatched the staff out of her hands. “The emperor said he would prefer you alive.”

Hallek lunged for Krozz's knees like a wrestler, but Krozz kicked him in the chest and sent him sprawling on the ground. Krozz shoved Shylldra away and threw her staff in the other direction. But before he could turn his attention to Hallek and finish him off there was an animal bellow of pain and distress. Krozz glanced towards the noise. Gathering what felt like every ounce of strength he would ever have again Hallek lunged forwards and buried his sword up to the hilt in Krozz's gut.

The high general's eyes widened more in surprise than pain, but the pain followed after. Thick black blood seeped from the corners of his lips as Hallek turned the blade and pulled it out, dragging with it an ugly strip of gore. Krozz collapsed like a bundle of bleeding rags.

Hallek collapsed pretty much the same way. Shylldra propped him up against the side of the villa.

“Hallek!” She said, running to his side. “Are you alright? I'm sorry that's a stupid question.”

“No it's not. I'm fine, fine. Just...could you do that trick for me again? You know the one that helps people stop bleeding?”

“Oh right!” Shylldra said. “Of course.”

“How about for us?” Dyryl asked, dragging Norak behind her. She'd tied some rope under his arms. “He's hurt pretty badly.”

“Do him first,” Hallek said.

Shylldra nodded. Hallek was wounded, but conscious, and his Fang empowered body had proven itself remarkably good at self repair. Norak was a mess. Norak was propped up beside Hallek to receive Shylldra's care.

“What about the battle?” Hallek asked.

“Still too close to call,” Dyryl said. “And even if we win, what then? I mean if we could chase off Lekarik and his men for now maybe we could take shelter in the villages...”

“I'm coming,” Hallek said, climbing to his feet.

“Oh no you are not!” Shylldra snapped. “You're better off than Norak but you're still cut up. And short on blood, too.”

“She's right,” Dyryl said. “All you could do is stumble out there and die.”

“Oh could he,” a voice unfamiliar to everyone but Shylldra said from the balcony above. “Well actually I think that sounds like a wonderful idea!”

A shadow loomed over them and they looked up to see Lekarik perched on the edge of the balcony, Milkaamek's ax slung casually over his shoulder. He gave them a fang toothed grin, and green light crackled in his eerie, inhuman eyes.