N20, Deadly Spectacle

I had reached the familiar area close to the ratmen village. It had taken some effort to get back using the small caves instead of the wide underground paths, but it made me uneasy to walk in the open after my encounter with that monster.

Now my goal was to get into the settlement without making a fuss. If I were to be mistaken for a wild beast I would be attacked on the spot.

Soon the eastern entrance came into view. The couple of ratmen laborers that were keeping guard got quite flustered after seeing a lone dog approaching the gate and readied their weapons. But before they could call for reinforcements I stopped walking and sat on the ground, hoping they would calm down. Seeing my odd behavior the sentries’ wariness changed into confusion and they looked at each other.

I wasn’t in the mood for it, but it was clear that I would need to put up an act to soothe their fears. I stuck out my tongue and wagged my tail like a silly mutt to show them I wasn’t hostile. I needed to make sure they understood that I wasn’t a wild dog before going through the door.

The sentries approached me with caution and I lowered my head and ears to further reassure them. That made the two completely drop their guard and start discussing what to do using their rudimentary language. Seeing a chance, I slowly got up and leisurely walked into the village followed by the confused pair.

Once inside other ratmen gradually started throwing curious glances at me, and soon a small group of laborers and tamers was formed.

‘Now I need to meet with my subordinates.’ I thought, ignoring them.

On the way here I had pondered about the best way to make the ratmen recognize me. All the individuals of the same species in this underground looked almost identical to one another. Sometimes even I had problems distinguishing my underlings by their appearance and needed to rely on their behavior. In the same way, the ratmen’s trinkets helped others recognize the wearer, especially in those cases where they weren’t very familiar with one another.

‘Have they never thought about using dog collars? Not that I want to wear one, but it would be useful in this situation.’

Having my subordinates involved was a risk. I wasn’t sure what would happen after the ratmen recognized me. I hoped they would try to find out what had happened to the missing members of the hunting expedition, but I couldn’t discard other less pleasant developments. If they tried to punish me for coming back alone my underlings wouldn’t sit still. And that worried me. Specifically, Number Two worried me.

‘Maybe I’m overthinking it.’

I started walking towards Number Three’s place. He wasn’t fully recovered yet, so I was almost sure I would find him there.

Suddenly, a tamer that had come after seeing the fuss blocked my path. I only needed a glance to know who it was, the asshole veteran that tried to sacrifice Number Three. He smirked at me, showing that the recognition was mutual.

‘Damn! What a shitty day.’

Having him involved was the last thing I wanted. I pondered if I should call for my subordinates. His dogs were behind him and he was accompanied by other tamers that sympathized with him. They were the ones that always stared at me.

‘If I call for help they will rush here alone.’

I was unsure if I should take the risk of calling my underlings. The situation was bleak, but it didn’t look like I was in immediate danger. I frowned my dog eyebrows. I hated not being in control of the situation, this kind of mess was one of the many reasons why I preferred to be in charge.

“Maigh gway!” The veteran was giving orders to his companions while telling everyone else to get out of the way. Trapped in the middle of them I was slowly led towards the walled grounds.

‘Shit!’

He was definitely up to no good. I tried to get away from the group but the veteran’s three dogs got in my way and growled at me. They would definitely attack if I didn’t cooperate.

‘What now?’

If this was going to be a punishment I could endure it. It was better than calling my subordinates and starting a fight, but if he had something worse planned I couldn’t let this continue.

‘I will wait and see what happens.’ I decided after some hesitation. ‘If I call my subordinates everyone should recognize me, surely he can’t do anything rash without the chief’s approval.’

After my encounter with the boss of the ratmen and the last incident with the veteran tamer, I could say for certain that the imposing dogman had some interest in me, and that fact gave me some kind of protection. I chose to bet on it and was led into the walled grounds.

Inside, the few tamers training fierce rats were promptly dismissed, leaving the place almost empty. While I was being watched by the veteran and his dogs a couple of tamers and a group of laborers brought half a dozen fierce rats from the pens. The animals were clearly poorly trained and the ratmen were struggling to herd them.

‘Oh, so that’s your plan.’ Now the veteran’s intentions were clear, he was going to make a spectacle. ‘But you are underestimating me.’

Six fierce rats posed little danger to a dog like me. Even if they incited them to attack they would run away after I killed two or three.

Once everything was in place, the veteran took his dogs away. Apart from the bunch of ratmen watching from the entrances I was alone with the fierce rats. The rodents were wary of me, I could tell from their movements, and tested them with a low growl that made them huddle against the opposite wall.

‘See?’ I glanced at the veteran. ‘If you have nothing else I have other things to do…’

Splash.

Suddenly, something hit me. A red fluid soaked my body and a strong sweet smell filled the air. It was that sweet scent again, the one from the black roots. This time I recognized it as the same stuff the humans used to attract their prey.

Some dogs near the entrances got restless and the fierce rats on the other side of the walled grounds looked at me with ravenous greed.

“Grrr!” I growled again, but this time the rats didn’t flinch. They were focused on the smell emanating from me and slowly walked in my direction. Their determination was growing as they approached the source of their hunger.

I resisted the urge to lick the remains of the liquid that had dripped on the ground and retreated to the wall behind me. The fierce rats had already lost any semblance of reason and were running at me, competing against themselves to be the first to arrive.

As they passed by the puddle of liquid that had been left on the ground two of the rodents were distracted and only four of them came my way.

‘Good.’

The rat on the lead jumped at me. That wasn’t a threat. I made use of my nimble body to avoid it and sank my teeth into the back of a different one. Then, instead of staying to end my opponent I used my strength to send the rat flying and tried to put some distance between me and the pack. If possible I wanted to avoid fighting the four at the same time.

‘I have to avoid being surrounded at all costs.’

During the brief exchange, one of the rats had managed to bite me, luckily the wound was shallow. Memories from the time I had been devoured alive surfaced in my mind and I shook my head to dismiss the traumatic recollections.

Because of the smell this group had gone mad and they would charge at me fearlessly, but thankfully, I was a lot faster than my opponents. Once I was some distance away I rubbed my body on the ground, if more of the red liquid seeped into the floor it could distract the maddened rats.

I succeeded and another stain appeared on the ground. I waited for the rats with my back against the wall and this time one of them got distracted by the leftovers of the smelly substance.

Now only two rats were charging at me at the same time. The one I had sent flying had recovered and was also coming for revenge, but I had some time before it caught up to the closest rodents.

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One of the maddened beasts jumped at me with a voracious shriek and I repeated my previous tactic, avoiding it and biting the other. My jaw sank deep in its back and I turned around to send it flying against its companion.

The two fierce rats crashed and I took the opportunity to finish one of them that had ended upside down. My bite tore its exposed neck and a stream of blood flowed from its throat, soaking the ground with another red liquid.

Far from getting scared the second rodent attacked me. I couldn’t avoid being bitten again and rolled on the floor violently to shake the rat off. Not wasting a moment I used my mouth to pin the rat against the floor.

‘I have to be quick.’

There were five opponents left, the rat I had thrown at the beginning was about to reach me, while the other three were distracted on the pools, but that wouldn’t last much longer.

I charged towards the approaching rodent with the rat in my mouth acting as a meat shield. The clash sent the attacking rodent flying again, and after landing, it looked disoriented. The same as the one in my mouth. I hurled the one I was holding and proceeded to dispatch both of them tearing their throats.

‘Good, this is doable.’

Not wasting time I also took care of the lone rat that was licking the nearest stain.

‘Only two remaining.’

The two fierce rats that had stayed to lick the first puddle were already done. They seemed to have fought each other for the right to drink the liquid and were bleeding from a few wounds.

I looked around. The veteran tamer was staring at me with a hateful expression and the other ratmen watching the fight were making a bit of a fuss, but none of them stepped in to stop us.

‘It’s already clear this is my win. Can’t you stop the fight, asshole?’

He was my main concern now. I was worried he wouldn’t be satisfied with this outcome.

Since no one made a move to interfere I approached the two wounded rats and killed them with ease. I had managed to win the fight with just a couple of injuries. My breath was a bit ragged, but I was in almost perfect condition. With six mad fierce rats ganging up on me, things could have gone a lot worse. I would have won anyway but would have ended up covered in bites.

‘I was lucky they were distracted by the red liquid.’

Once again I focused on the veteran tamer. He was having a heated talk with some of his comrades. Whatever he wanted to do wasn’t well received and one by one they all backed off. In the end, the veteran himself made a frustrated gesture and walked into the grounds followed by his three mutts.

Seeing the nervous expressions of the other ratmen I had a bad premonition.

“Groarr! Grrr groarr!” I immediately called my subordinates, this wasn’t the time to play safe.

“Groarr! Grrr groarr!” I repeated the call, hoping they would arrive even a second faster.

“Gratthack!” With a wave of his hand, the veteran tamer ordered his dogs to charge at me.

‘Fuck! I need to buy time.’

This wasn’t a fight I could win. My only weapon was my fangs, if I were to bite one dog I would leave myself open to the other two. The three dogs ran toward me side by side. Then broke their formation to surround me and harass my flanks.

“Groar!” I roared to keep them at bay. My initial plan to buy time by turning the fight into a chase had fallen apart before being put into action. The walled grounds were wide enough for me to run while evading an enemy, but these mutts’ teamwork was better than I had expected.

‘I must admit you are a bit smarter than the rats.’

I had no option but to fall back. With the wall behind me, I could at least avoid attacks from my blind spots. The dogs didn’t charge at me immediately. Instead, they stood a few feet away and moved closer slowly. Waiting for the perfect opportunity to attack.

‘So it has come to this.’

I exhaled to calm myself. This was going to be a fight to the bitter end. At this point, letting my enemies have the first strike didn’t sit well with me. I would rather be the one opening the bloodbath.

I feinted at the dog on my left, then jumped at the one on my right. It wasn’t a great tactical move, but it gave me a moment to engage the dog on the right alone. We bit at each other fiercely while thrashing around and in the ensuing chaos, I tried my best to get his body between me and the other two mutts.

My mouth was dripping blood. I had been hurt too, but in the middle of the thrilling exchange, I was unable to feel any pain. In a one on one fight me and my opponent were almost equal. Unfortunately, the other two dogs weren’t going to let things continue like this. I felt one of them sink its fangs into my hind leg while the other attacked me from the side.

I kicked one and shook my body in an attempt to get the other off me. While doing so I heard loud dog roars from outside the walled grounds.

‘They are here!’

My subordinates had arrived. I redoubled my efforts to free myself, if I could regroup with them and make the fight a three versus three, or even a two versus three my chances of surviving would grow exponentially.

Somehow managing to shake off my enemies, I ran towards the entrance. There, a bunch of ratmen was blocking my path and behind them, I could see some flashes of brown and black fur.

“Groar!” For the first time since the fight had started, I heard one of my enemies bark. Turning around I saw the first dog I had attacked coming for revenge. Patches of scarlet blood showed on his brown fur. Not far behind and still unharmed, were his companions.

The wounded mutt jumped at me. The instant before the clash I spared a glance towards the veteran tamer. The fucker hadn’t moved an inch after giving the order to attack.

The next moment I was assaulted by the three dogs. This time I had no plan and blindly bit any flesh that got closer. When one of them got behind me I kicked it with my hind legs, and when my mouth was occupied I scratched their faces with my front paws to hinder their attacks.

‘Just a bit more!’

I had to trust that my subordinates would join me soon.

Some blood splashed on my face, momentarily blinding my left eye. I shook my head to get rid of it and in that instant, one of the dogs managed to sink his fangs deep into my shoulder.

“Groarr!” I roared fiercely after feeling the sharp pain and kept giving my all in the fight, but for every wound I inflicted on my foes, I received three.

The exhaustion and the pain began to sink in, and as time passed the fight was getting more and more in my enemies’ favor.

‘C’mon!’

I wasn’t aware of what was happening in my surroundings. I could barely focus on the three enemies attacking me.

Then, as I was about to bite the most injured dog, one of my legs failed me and I fell to the ground. Seeing me on my last legs the three dogs redoubled their efforts and I could feel each and every bite on my flesh.

‘Damn you!’

I was enraged. I wanted to tear these three mongrels, but I didn’t have the energy to stand up. I knew I would be dead soon. I remembered the time I had been killed by the hungry pack. I was feeling the same frustration now. If it had been a one-on-one fight things would not have ended like this.

“Halt!” Unexpectedly, before the dogs could finish me, the veteran tamer ordered them to stop. The tall ratman approached with a smirk on his face and a bone spike on his hand. He wanted to end me with his own hands.

‘You are going to regret this! In my next life, I’m going to kill you no matter what!’

All my anger was focused on the tall ratman. I didn’t know the reason he hated me so much, and I didn’t care. I would find my way back to this place, I would tear his throat open and I would enjoy the sight of him bleeding to death.

‘No matter how many tries I need or how many times I die. I won't rest until you're dead!’ I tore at him with my eyes.

The veteran tamer knelt beside me and his pants were stained red by the puddle that my blood had formed.

I could feel the pain diminishing. My sight was getting blurry and a cozy darkness began to wrap me. It was the now familiar sign that I was slowly dying.

“Hey! Whatcha doing here?” Suddenly, a big silhouette flew over the wall and kicked the veteran tamer as it landed. The tall ratman was sent flying out of my sight.

‘Ha… at least you didn’t get to finish me.’

With my final strand of consciousness, I mocked the tall ratman. The thought gave me some solace as I slipped towards my next life.