It squeals (horrid sound, let me tell you), I squeak (what else are you going to do when an enormous creature falls out of a tree, using you as a landing pad? You ain’t got enough air for a yell.), and Ran snickers (SERIOUSLY, RAN? I thought you were on my side!).

The thing twists and flails, getting one foot upright... but two others slip, sending its large, yellow belly back on top of me.

It gets another two feet under it; the limbs threaten to give again. I take the moment to grab a knife and shove it up under its arm, even as I use my other arm to keep the thing from stepping on me accidentally as it flails in the mud. I feel like a rat under a horse in a mud bath, trying to dodge the flailing feet.

It seems a bit dazed. Perhaps it hit its head? I’m not complaining. I think it broke some ribs when it fell on me, so par for the course would be even better if I get to kill the bugger.

It snaps at me with its mouth but can't reach me cause I'm under it and it keeps slipping every time it tries to reach for me. This thing gets zero points for flexibility.

My palms are slick with sweat and mud, slipping on the knife hilt, even as I hold on for dear life so it doesn't squash me again.

Ugly. Come to momma, ugly. I adjust my grip on my knife and shove it deeper, then twist. Big Ugly jerks away at the bite of my blade, and my slippery grip makes me lose the knife and I collapse back into the mud on my back with a splash. Grand.

It shrieks, the sound a mix of eagle and glass on chalkboard. I whimper as the sound tries to burst my eardrums, but use its moment of anger to crawl out from under its arm. It thrashes in the mud and shrieks again, so I use its alligator-like leg as a springing board. It bucks when I land on its back, but hey, I’m used to Ran, so no biggie.

HEY! she shouts, even as she scratches and growls at the monster I’m clinging to. I’m prettier! she yells at me.

I laugh with glee. It’s so utterly releasing to be back in a life or death situation. It probably says something about my life that I would rather be fighting an ugly, stinking monster straight out of nightmares than hiding in a castle like a good little girl. Eh. Never have been normal.

“You’re insane. Get down... from there.... this instant,” Mr. Assassin Spy yells at me indignantly between blocking the barbed tail and slicing at the claws, but is that worry I detect in his normally steady voice?

I shrug it off. Kill ugly now, figure out weird assassin man later. When I can steal more knives. Mmmhmmm.

The creature takes a bite at Ran and she rears back, smacking at its face and scratching its cheek with her claws. Ugly screams in her face, even as her lips pull back in a snarl and she snaps at the creature's nose, bloodying it and taking off some scales. That's my girl.

The fur on the back of its neck bristles. Its fur is course, like a pig. And the skin under it is hard as a rock. I don’t like that. I can’t stab it. And I’m definitely feeling stabby tonight.

Sir Hans gives me a nod from where he's stabbing at the creature's armpit, taking some of the heat from me and engaging the deadly creature in a battle of strength he's likely to lose.

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I hold onto an upraised scale with one hand, and take out one of my new black knives with the other. I duck when the barbed tail tries to impale me.

Use me, the Spark inside whispers, her voice soft and almost indistinct, with a hint of hesitation.

It jars me, and my hand slips on the scale. I almost curse as the side of the scale cuts through my hand like butter, but then, my momma raised me better than to have a potty mouth in addition to my usual sarcasm. I... can I use the Spark? Something in me doesn't want to use it, still fears and blames her. So I hesitate.

I put the knife in my teeth, and start climbing to its head, my hand spattering blood on its otherwise dark and icky scales. The thing bucks and rolls beneath me as the other knights surround it, but I cling on it like a flee to a nice, juicy Timber Wolf.

It seethes, spitting saliva and poison as the others take its mind off me. They point pointy things at it, and Assassin Spy throws one of my knives, pinning its tail to a tree. Thank goodness. It almost got me with the barbed thing multiple times.

And that’s when I take the Sparks offer. I ask her for a shield around me and the other knights, something similar to armor. I guess... it can't hurt. Something in me doubts it'll work, but I try to hold onto hope.

She cackles in glee and gets to work. Didn’t know she had a devious side.

All things that come in contact with you have a devious side, Ran points out dryly, even as she clamps down on a foreleg, sending the creature jittering sideways.

Hmm. Point taken.

I’m almost to the thing's stocky neck, a grin turning my lips as I see the back of its neck where the spine meets the brain. But it's had enough, ripping its tail from the tree in a shower of bark and leaves.

My eyes widen as the barbed tail strikes at me with the zeal of a large hornet, the blood-coated blade still sticking out of the double-jointed appendage. I throw myself away from the tail, losing hold of its scales and scrambling for purchase on the smooth neck.

My hand catches a jutting scale. I hold on tightly with that one hand and dangle from the side of its neck. My other arm flails for anything to hold onto. Someone yells. The knights shout and clank swords against Big Ugly, but it's done playing nice.

The stabby, scorpion-like point comes at me again, and I twist my torso. It stabs itself, and I can't help a hysterical giggle, biting my mud-stained lip to keep from laughing outright.

It roars, twisting its head to pin me with one snake-like eye, its slit nostril flares and forked tongue scenting the air. It ignores the other ants on the ground trying to stab it as it watches me with death in its eyes. I gulp.

It hisses out a breath between yellowed teeth, pulling out the tail from its neck. I'm tempted to giggle again as black blood gushes from the point, but its tail stabs at me again. When I dodge this time, the entire body vibrates, shaking like an earthquake, and it releases an avalanche of scales, including the one I'm holding.

Come on! Give me a break here!

I land on the ground, my backside taking the brunt of my fall, jarring my head on my shoulders. Pain twists my torso and lungs, seizing my lungs in an iron grip. I gasp, unable to get a breath and drowning on air. A toothy maw looms over me. I see pieces of flesh stuck in its multi-layered, shark-like teeth. Warm, decaying breath washes over me. If death ever had a smell, this is it.

I get my first good look at the thing as it pulls back to look at me, something like a grin pulling at its oddly shaped mouth. It’s almost like an alligator in how it’s shaped. Long, scaly body covered in patched scales and that bristly fur, but it has the tail of a scorpion and head of a wolf. An ugly wolf. And its mouth opens wider like a snake as it launches itself at me. I go to dodge, but... I won’t be quick enough.

A body slams into mine, shouts and the crash of something large and heavy smacking against flesh is loud in my ears, even as I take another tumble in the mud from someone pushing me out of the way.

The Spark’s frantic fear becomes my own. And then I look at the person who sent me flailing away. The shield. It... it didn’t work. The creature moved through it like it wasn't even there.

Anger thrums through my veins, pounding against my chest. My breath comes back in a gasp, grating against my windpipe, and I stand, my hands and feet tingly.

I use a tree like a springboard, rebounding off the bark and back onto the thing’s neck, yelling like a banshee as I plunge my knife into its eye socket—but not before it bites into the man. I’m—I’m too late.