Later that night, Mil’Tuk managed to hunt and kill a stag. The majority went to us and was properly cooked, but the remains went to my new ally. The lizard creature was friendly enough. It took some convincing for the creature to be friendly with the others besides myself. You know what they say: the best way through an animal's heart is through its stomach. Each of us shared some meat with the hatchling, and as the reptile ate its fill, we all had to decide one of the most important aspects. What to call it.

“How about smoke?” Asked Mil’Tuk as he threw some meat at the creature who accepted food from anybody.

“Smoke?” Straden questioned as he spoke with a mouth full of food. “Why would you name it that?”

“Well, because the pure white reminds me of smoke.”

“Well, if you want my opinion, why don’t we name it something fearsome? Like ghost?”

Mil’Tuk shrugged and shook his head. I tried to think of a name. A name hit me and I started to burst out laughing. Octavian looked at me very strangely, wondering if I had hit my head in the previous fight with the beast’s mother.

“My lord?”

I dried my eyes from a few nostalgic tears as I explained myself.

“My mother. When I was a child, my mother took in a stray dog. Its fur was pure white like snow on a mountain.”

Mil’Tuk raised his eyebrow and crossed his arms. “Oh, so we should name it snow? No offense, but I think that’s too predictable.”

I wagged my finger and drank some water before I answered. “Oh no. That's not the name. The dog was very affectionate. Kind, sweet, loving. So, my mother gave it a very fitting name. Sweetroll.”

Brutus laughed and slapped my back as he grinned. “Sweetroll? You wanna name that lizard Sweetroll? The thing almost bit me when you brought it into camp! Hardly sweet.”

I grinned wickedly and winked. “Ahh but that's the beauty of it. How humiliating do you think it has to be to be killed by a creature named Sweetroll?”

Octavian shrugged, a very subtle smile appeared on his face. Cao Tzu signed to me that she approved of the name. And so, we named the lizard Sweetroll. A new addition to our group. One day, this lizard would become large enough to break down city walls. The idea that our enemies would meet their doom at the claws of this creature only to know in their final moments that it was named “Sweetroll” would be a very fitting insult.

Yet that would be the future. Sweetroll needed to get larger first. I could not risk the hatchling’s involvement with fighting its mother. Such a creature at a small stage in life would easily get crushed. To that end, I made sure that Sweetroll was fed a lot of food and tied to a tree. I felt bad having to leave Sweetroll behind, —even more so when it started to make those crocodile-like noises calling for its parent. Calling for me.— but I had little choice when the day of our hunt arrived.

***

We laid out in the jungle foliage for our prey. We made several pit traps during the days the beast refused to climb out of its hole, no doubt saddened by the disappearance of her hatchling. We covered ourselves in mud so that our scent was masked. Each day we waited we would coat ourselves in dirt and grime. Yet even still, the beast did not appear for six days. Upon the seventh day however, hunger or some other primal instinct had taken over the creature, and it had no choice. We heard a rumble and saw the waters bubbling up until the creature rose out of the lake like some sort of breaching whale, or more appropriately, a sea monster.

The beast dragged its massive body on the ground. It had gotten thinner the last time I saw it, though not by much. It was still a strong and capable beast, but hunger had weakened it only slightly. Perhaps it had been weakened enough for that small difference to matter. It is often the tiny things in life that cause the greatest changes. A simple lost hour of sleep can change the entire outcome of a battle. A small little sickness can impact the whole world as we know it. Even the tiniest crack in the wall can be a weakness. You know the old saying. “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.”

The beast lumbered forward, towering over the tree line as it looked for a suitable prey. It didn’t notice us, and we barely made a whisper. We held our breath as it passed over us. It might not have heard us since we were so small compared to it, but why give way to chance? Each step the creature took was massive. The earth shook under us with each movement. It felt like an earthquake had begun right under us as we laid down flat. The traps we laid out were large enough for the feet, but all that remained was waiting for it to step on one. With enough luck, the beast would have cleared the trap field without even noticing. So we simply waited.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Every step the creature took rumbled through the earth. Its long tail dragged on the ground and kicked up dirt as it moved forward. Just a little bit longer and it would eventually set off a trap. Just a bit longer. Then, as it raised its right leg into the air, everyone held a breath. It planted its foot down right on the spikes, the force piercing its foot. The creature let out a pained roar, and we sprang in for the attack.

“Now!!!” I yelled loudly in a war cry as everyone else charged. I stood up with a spear in hand to signal those who could not hear me. The creature tried to pull its foot out of the trap as it noticed us, but it was stuck. Most likely the creature saw us as ants. But these Ants had stingers, and we weren’t afraid to use them. Octavian, Straden and Mil’Tuk threw their spears at the beast. They found their mark and became embedded in the creature's back. It roared loudly before ripping its hand off from the spike, not unrestrained.

It used its gigantic tail to whip at the trio, knocking them far back with great force, as if they had just been hit like a bug being smacked by a man’s finger. Cao Tzu went up close to the creature and reached her hands out, producing a stream of fire at the beast. It roared in pain and stepped back. That animalistic fear of Fire kicking in, giving me enough time to get onto the creature's back. As I crawled, it bucked against me attempting to throw me off. I gripped on to the row of spikes on its back. My body flailed in the air as I tried to get a good grip. Octavian was the first to stand up and go for the other spears while Brutus charged in with his makeshift club.

Octavian held his breath as he prepared to launch the spear. He took a deep breath before getting a running start and launching the spear at its eye. The reptilian tyrant hissed and roared, using its good foot to paw the spear out of her eye. Brutus growled and used his strength to his advantage. With a mighty roar he swung the club at the creature's leg. It roared in pain and forced some scales off. It used the arm to fling Brutus aside while I tried to climb up its back. I had reached towards the shoulders when the lizard showed off some of its intelligence.

It moved to raise one leg in the air and then another, trying to roll over on its back to flatten me. With no choice, I had to jump off of the creatures back moments before I could be flattened. The creature’s rolling managed to miss the other traps and had moved to a safe place beyond the borders of the trap field. Brutus quickly got up and started to charge at the creature again. He leapt onto the creature's wounded arm and squeezed tightly, gripping the beast tightly and biting at him like some sort of wild man. It took a moment for me to reorient myself. The massive animal violently shook its arm while I got back onto the creature. It flung Brutus off of its arm and then turned its body to where it could try to bite me.

It opened its fanged mouth in an attempt to swallow me whole, yet I quickly grabbed my spear and thrusted it into the roof of its mouth. It yelped out in pain and hissed at me as I leapt onto the top of its head. It ran wildly around as I raised my spear high in the air and then plunged it into its head, yet to my dismay, the scales on the head were hard. My spear didn’t go through cleanly. I drew blood, but I was only able to get a couple of inches into the beast’s thick skull. The beast roared and tried to shake me off. It was more intense than trying to ride an angry bull. At least the bull couldn’t eat you whole once it threw you off.

It continued to buck and move around, slithering as Brutus kept a tight grip on the leg. Thanks to the spear that Octavian threw, the beast was disoriented. As Brutus climbed up the beast’s leg, I found a new target. I took my spear and blinded the lizard’s other eye. It yelped, and was not completely sightless. It ran through trees and mowed them over, uprooting them from the ground. Brutus and I were in for a difficult ride. Brutus and I joined together to kill the beast, but its hide proved difficult for our weapons. Our spears and blades couldn’t cut through the flesh alone.

Brutus and I looked at each other as it charged closer to the waters, unintentionally aiming to throw itself off into the water. He offered his sword, and I grabbed the handle with him. We each knew exactly what to do in a last attempt to take down the beast. With both of our united strength, we plunged Brutus’s sword into the creature’s head. Its limbs stopped moving just as it moved toward the water, but its speed was simply too great. Before we could jump off, we were all thrown into the water. Brutus tried to get the sword out of the creature but found resistance. I looked down at him as I floated in the water. He was sinking down to the darkened abyss of the water.

I swam to him, trying desperately to get him to safety. More and more, I pushed my body to the limit. Brutus was running out of air. He figured that the sword was not worth drowning over, because he quickly started to swim up to me. I grabbed his arm and we both moved our arms. Our lungs burned with the lack of air, and we were quickly losing consciousness. Brutus went out first, and I was close behind. As my vision faded, I felt something grab me. It looked humanoid. Was it Octavian or Cao Tzu? I couldn’t see, but I was being helped. That was all that mattered. There were more humanoid shapes in the water that swam.

Rather than going to the surface, they took us to an underwater cave. They were remarkably fast, and before we knew it we were in one of those air pockets like the creature had lived in. Brutus and I coughed up water, laying down on the ground. Our chests hurt and our lungs worse, but we were alive. I sat up to try to thank our saviors. Though quickly I realized that they were not any one of our fellows. Rather, they were strangers of the highest category. They had humanoid shapes, but their legs were digitigrade —double jointed— and they had tails.

Their tails were incredibly thick like one you would see on a boa constrictor. Their skin was made up of scales. They had clawed hands that ended in four fingers, and their heads were like…serpents. Their forked tongues sensed the air as they looked at me and Brutus. I had no other weapon on me. Brutus and I were defenseless. I picked up a rock, thinking that these creatures would come forth and attack us. Yet one of them stepped forward. It was a slender one that was smaller than the others, yet it wore strange robes. Its bright red scales were visible, even in the dark, illuminated only by more running magma that dotted the cave system.

In a voice that was unmistakably female, the red serpent woman —dressed in something that looked quite seremonial— stared at me in awe before she spoke.

“I-Its you! The one our great father prophesied would come! You are the prophet of Ile’Sethak!”